Immortal Beloved
by JadeAnime
Summary: In the midst of a war, he made a promise. He kept it. Now, centuries later, thanks to the twisted mind of one Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke meet once more. Eventual Naru/Sasu; Reviews are my Wheaties. Cha cha cha, do the limbo!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is the property of a man that goes by the initials MK. I choose to believe this stands for Mortal Kombat and that I may engage said owner in a game of such at any point to win the rights. And no. You cannot have some of what I'm having. It's mine, all mine. O.o As are those lawn gnomes.

**Summary:** In the midst of a war, he made a promise. He kept it. Now, centuries later, thanks to the twisted mind of one Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke meet once more.

**Warnings:** Sasu/Naru, spoilers for anyone who hasn't been keeping up with the manga (I will try to keep this to a minimum if it's even noticeable at all), a sleepy authoress plagued by an equally sleepy beta. Oh, and random stabbings. I blame it on being Mexican.

* * *

**Prologue**

**-Wake-**

* * *

'_Shit.'_

First, one drop; then, two. Within a few moments, the rain began to pour down, soaking the ground already slick with the blood of the dead and the dying. Scowling as he was drenched, he readjusted his hold and ignored it. Continuing past the next intersection, he glanced about, reaching out with his senses. There were still too many chakra signatures nearby for his liking and he imagined he could hear the clash of weapons as well.

'_Shit, shit, shit.'_

He needed help. He wasn't a healer by any means, but in this case, the best would be needed if there was to be _any_ chance of survival. Of course, that meant Tsunade or Sakura; neither of which were available options. Tsunade was back the way he just came from, right in the thick of things. There was no way she'd be able to leave the battle right now, not with the entire village still in danger. He couldn't go back either; it was too dangerous. He'd be killed. Strangely, he smiled at the thought; it would probably be Tsunade that killed him for returning rather than an enemy actually getting a hold of him. As for Sakura…

Lightning arced across the sky, illuminating the desolate buildings around them. Slowing down a bit, he realized he'd finally managed to put a fair distance between him and the fighting. In fact, considering the situation, it was rather ironic where he'd ended up. Without even being aware of it, his feet had carried him to the abandoned Uchiha compound of all places.

Nearby, a trash can overturned, startling some poor starving cat who promptly scurried away, leaving the area lifeless once more. It was better that way, though. After all, if the enemy did happen to find them here, no one else would be hurt.

Finally moving through the gate, he trotted over to the nearest building, only vaguely aware of the sign that hung above the door. Shifting the load on his back so as to free a hand, he shivered slightly at the warm breath now fanning across his neck as he slid the door open and stepped inside quickly.

The former shop stood completely empty but for a couple of built in shelves and a counter along the wall to his right. A thick layer of dust covered everything from the years of disuse and the air was terribly stale, making him wrinkle his nose in disgust. Stepping behind the counter, he kneeled down and gently placed the other against the wall, noting the sharp intake of breath as he did so. Turning to face his friend, he shook his head and frowned, anger beginning to boil up inside once more. What more could they do to him, to the both of them? Hadn't they suffered enough? There was so much pain that, at this point, it seemed as if death would be the only release…

A pained groan dragged him from his morbid thoughts and he looked to the body that he had been holding just moments before. Normally so strong, it now seemed so small and fragile in his eyes. Why had he let it come to this? There had been so many ways, so many chances for him to prevent this. He'd been selfish, though. He'd thought he'd had every right to be. Still, he'd known better; known that for him, there could never be anything good. Such things would only be ripped from him or perhaps, destroyed by him himself.

Still, he'd hoped this one time would be different. Certainly, he'd enjoyed himself, but at what cost? It seemed that the price of his happiness was too high. Gingerly brushing the limp hair away from his friend's good eye, he watched as it cracked open slightly, immediately taking in their surroundings before settling on him. "…hey."

"Hey." His friend's eye flickered away from him momentarily as he began attempting to move various limbs, apparently taking stock of his injuries. If the winces and short gasps were anything to go by, the results weren't much better than his own appraisal had been. Watching the rain water drip from his friend's hair and mix freely with the blood still flowing from his wounds, he knew that by the time anyone was able to come, it would be too late. He smiled bleakly, some poetic part of him thinking that perhaps the sudden downpour was the sky crying for him, since he could no longer bring himself to do it. "Need anything?"

"Don't…"

"Don't what?" he prompted, slightly confused.

"Don't do that," his friend told him, his eye drooping slightly and his breathing becoming a bit shallower.

"Do what?" he asked, mildly frustrated by his friend's obtuseness.

"No brooding," he clarified quietly, glaring pointedly before a tired smirk wormed its way onto his face. "That's… my job… dobe."

Naruto laughed then, hard enough to finally bring tears to his eyes, honestly amused despite the situation. "Yeah, well… I don't remember asking for your permission, teme." Sasuke's smirk only grew as he murmured something to himself that Naruto didn't catch, but it seemed to amuse the brunette so it was probably a joke at his expense, knowing Sasuke.

A moment later though, the smirk slipped away. At some point, the other's face had taken on a ashen hue without Naruto noticing and it scared him. Suddenly, Sasuke's hand shot out and clamped down onto Naruto's forearm, startling the blonde. The Uchiha forced his eyes open as he searched for something in Naruto's, poignantly reminding Naruto that his best friend was one of the most strong willed people he knew.

"You have to promise me something, Naruto," he pleaded earnestly, his voice suddenly steady, belying his dying state. Bewildered by Sasuke's sudden request, he simply nodded dumbly in reply. "You mustn't break this promise, no matter what."

Sasuke's grip on Naruto tightened, but he ignored it. A promise was something he understood. He may not know what he was promising yet, but it didn't matter. This was Sasuke asking him, his best friend and the first person to ever truly acknowledge him. Naruto would go to the ends of the earth for Sasuke, had done so before, and would gladly do so again. Even if Sasuke wouldn't be around this time to know it.

"I never go back on a promise, Sasuke. It's my nindo," he reassured his friend. "You should know that better than anyone, after all," he added, grinning slightly. "How many years did I chase you, all for the simple promise of bringing you home?"

Sasuke's grip slackened as a small smile, truly a rarity for the youngest Uchiha, graced his paling lips. "Too many, dobe. Far too many."

His hand had almost completely slipped from Naruto's arm by now, but the blonde grabbed it and held it gently within his own. Those pale fingers felt cold and clammy beneath his own, and Naruto knew his friend didn't have much time left. "I promise, Sasuke. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. I'll keep this promise with you, even if it kills me."

Sasuke's smile seemed to grow a little bigger at that. "Remember your promise…" As his eyes slid shut, shouting suddenly erupted nearby. Naruto was deaf to the outside world, though, as one last word slipped from Sasuke's mouth, barely above a whisper. It didn't matter. Naruto heard it, clear as day, no matter how much he might've wished he hadn't. And once more, Naruto felt the sting of Sasuke's betrayal.

Sasuke was leaving him alone again. Only this time, Naruto couldn't follow him.

* * *

**Jade:** You know what time it is, Pissy?

**Pissy:** Tool time?

**Jade:** No. AN time!

**Pissy:** Ahhhh why do you put me on the spot like this? You're gonna give a girl performance anxiety!

**Jade:** lol Sucker. And this was the easy part. Damn my inner emo. Mildly short, I know. However, rest assured that Chapter 1 is literally 5 times this size. And chapter titles may or may not make sense, as the actual titles are being taken from the music that most inspired me in the midst of writing. And you people get stuck with ANs being banter between Pissy and I, because I like it that way.

**Pissy**: Ah well, my banter involves the fact that you write way too slow, your inner monologue is emo, and I still demand chocolate. More than the Dove I stole from your desk...though it was tasty.

**Jade:** I say again. Damn inner emo. It should just slit its own wrists so I can write more funnies. Like in Chapter 1. With the stabbing. Lol Anyways, I hereby free Pissy of her forced banter for this chapter.

I'm posting this and waiting to see how the reactions to it go, before I post the next chapter. Either way, I'm still going to write, as really, this is for Pissy's and my own amusement. But whether or not I get enough reviews will decide if I bother posting it here. I do live off praise. That and caffeine. So, you all know the drills. :D **Review please** and I will dance a nerdy little jig for your amusements. Possibly share my cookies. No one touches the chocolate, though. -.o

**Wake by Linkin Park, Minutes to Midnight**


	2. Lament of the Highborne

**Disclaimer:** Well, needless to say, I don't own Naruto. Otherwise, the manga wouldn't be turning out quite so predictable. Or maybe that's just me and my brain doing overtime. And yet, it's still so good. Sigh.

**Summary:** In the midst of a war, he made a promise. He kept it. Now, centuries later, thanks to the twisted mind of one Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke meet once more.

**Warnings:** A way too wordy authoress, face plants, an abused Sai, and didn't I say Mexican? -stab- And just do you know, I'm not going to _promise_ an update schedule. I suck at both. I _will_ attempt to post once every week or two. But note, I said _attempt_. Much like I _attempt_ to get out of bed when my alarm goes off and usually fail, thus inciting the husband to kick me out. Also, FFnet won't let me right align things. So I had to underline instead to point out a different speaker. ...you'll see when you get there. lol

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Lament of the Highborne**

* * *

"_You weren't the same!"_

_He spun around, the voice echoing in the darkness. Yet, with no light at all, he remained unable to discern anything of the environs. Still, he didn't feel he was in any danger. Something about the voice was concerned, heartbroken even, but hardly malicious. Even the air around him seemed to be warm and inviting somehow._

"_**You laughed too, that time**__."_

_Now he could just barely make out water dripping somewhere off to his left. Hesitantly, he turned and moved in its direction, only to find the sound now emanating back the way he had come from._

"_I was jealous."_

_Uncertainty ate at him, halting his steps once more as he listened to the voices. Something about them was familiar, yet completely alien._

"_**It wasn't meaningless**__."_

_The voices were becoming louder now, clearer to point that he _knew_ at least one of those voices. After all, it was his own. Knowing this, however, did nothing to alleviate his confusion. Quite the contrary in fact; it only served to heighten it…_

"_I didn't say what I really felt."_

…_Being that he knew he'd never heard the other voice. Or at least, he couldn't remember ever having heard it before._

"_**I will not be your puppet**__!"_

_With that, the darkness changed suddenly, becoming more sinister and menacing. The warmth around him drained away, replaced by a bone-deep chill that made his spine shiver unpleasantly. He imagined that, if he could see, his breath would probably be frosting the air in front of him._

"_My eyes…"_

_Spoken in yet another voice, the words seemed almost physical, slithering along his skin until he finally shuddered._

"_**I have every reason to hate him**__."_

_He frowned. There was something about that statement, something that struck a chord within him. After all, there were very few people he hated._

"_I'll always be with you…"_

_Those words, usually meant to comfort another, instead filled him with sheer terror. Surprisingly, it wasn't the reigning emotion, though. No, even more powerful than the fear, was a burning hatred that took hold of him, demanding violence against the bearer of that voice. Why? Especially when he knew that voice, knew it almost as well as his own._

"_**He killed everyone, my mother, my father…**__"_

_Flashes of deathly quiet streets and blood-covered rooms danced before his eyes, nauseating in their realism. The voices swelled, the other two mixing with the disembodied version of his own in an unbearable cacophony, forcing him to cover his ears._

"_You were able to do anything."_

"_**That's why this time, at my whim, you'll lose your life.**__"_

"_You see me… dead?" _

"_I always felt the same."_

"_**Why do you go so far for someone like me?**__"_

"_I'll wait for you."_

"_You are my light…" _

"_It's the promise of a lifetime."_

"_**Remember your promise…"**_

**_--_**

Sasuke groaned and rolled onto his side, trying to shield his eyes from the Saturday morning sun. He stayed like that for a time, letting the silence of the room wrap around him, peacefully trying to coax him back to sleep.

Instead, he lay there thinking. It had been one of _those_ dreams again. He didn't know why he had them; didn't know who the third voice was. He'd always had them; as far back as he could remember. Back when he was younger, they had been a lot rarer. At first, the dreams had scared him and he'd gone crying to his older brother every time. After a while, he'd gotten used to them, though. Besides, they hadn't all been nightmares. Nor did they come often enough for it to be of any real concern.

But that was before… Before his brother had disappeared, before his parents had been killed, before he'd been left alone.

Strangely, once he'd gotten his emotions under control and the chaos has died down, Sasuke had settled into his new life quite comfortably. So comfortably in fact, that one would almost assume that Sasuke had always been alone. It felt… right, somehow. Like that was how it should have been all along.

Sasuke didn't understand the feeling himself and chose not to dwell on it. He was sure it wasn't a normal reaction, but he didn't feel like having someone poke around in his head to try and figure it out. He most certainly didn't feel like paying for it, either.

As time passed, however, _those_ dreams had been occurring more often.

Still, life went on and as an Uchiha, Sasuke couldn't let himself be unsettled so easily. He had his pride, dammit.

He propped himself up on his elbows and slowly surveyed his room, taking in the scattered books and the mountains of dirty laundry scattered about. He frowned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and stood, only to step on a stray magazine and slip, falling face first into one of the nearby piles of laundry, too surprised to do more than grunt upon impact.

Noting that the smell of dirty laundry shoved directly under your nose was not pleasant by any stretch of the imagination; he huffed slightly and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Sighing, he reached up to remove the stray sock that had found a perch upon the top of his hair and hung his head in shame.

Pride? What pride? Who was he kidding? Well, except maybe himself. Maybe if he asked nicely, he could get Sakura to help him clean the place up. Again.

…Yeah, right. Right after she was crowned Miss America and achieved world peace. He'd already been threatened with bodily harm the last time she'd come over to help if he so much as let a speck of a dust touch his floor.

Well, he couldn't technically _see_ any dust on the floor. That he couldn't see the floor at all was minor detail, really. And while he was on the subject, where the hell had that magazine come from anyways?! He glared in its general direction, assured that its glossy pages were properly cowed and would never trip him up again.

Another moment of Sleepy Sasuke VS Mischievous Magazine passed, before logic managed to assert itself and inform Sasuke that said magazine was his possession as of yesterday afternoon.

"_Alright, kids, settle down so we can get class started."_

Sasuke yawned and crawled over the magazine to assess the damage done, hoping for a positive outcome. He still needed the damn thing as a resource for his senior project. Not that he'd really garnered much in the way of new information from it, but it had detailed a few other things he'd only been vaguely aware of.

_A small orange book was opened, unnoticed as it was an everyday occurrence and had been for many years. "You all know it's that time of year. And just because I love you all, I've even gone through the trouble of picking your topics out for you."_

Outside of a few crinkled pages, the magazine, along with its all important article, remained intact. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Sasuke guessed he must have passed out while reading the silly thing. Really though, just because he dropped it on the floor was no reason for the damnable thing to make an attempt on his life. Even if doing so was the equivalent of throwing a small child to a pack of hungry wolves. Actually, that reminded Sasuke of where he was currently sitting and he eyed the dubious piles of stuff littering his floor warily. Grabbing the magazine, he managed to stand, albeit a bit shakily, and followed the well-worn pathway to his desk.

_The gray haired man pointed to a shoe box on the end of his desk. "However, to spice up your dreary little lives a bit, you don't get to choose your topic from the list; you get to draw it." Their teacher grinned, his one visible eye almost seeming to take the shape of an upside down U. "Once you've drawn it, you are to show it to me immediately so that I may write down who is doing what. You may not exchange, trade, or otherwise try to weasel your way out of said topic. It doesn't matter who you are," Sasuke arched an eyebrow at the look he got, "how offensive you may find the topic," Sakura narrowed her eyes, just knowing he had something perverted in that box, "or how much work you have to put into it." Shikamaru yawned and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'troublesome.' _

Sasuke placed the magazine in amongst his other materials, making sure to keep everything on his desk straightened up and organized. The eye of the storm, as it were. When it came to something important, Sasuke always kept things neat and orderly.

_For the most part, the topics had been normal things: the assassination of this figurehead and how the rumors surrounding it affected today; or religion in their town's society, past; and evolution of the Japanese fine arts, among others._

Obviously, Sasuke only considered his desk important, not his room in its entirety. At the very least, there wasn't old food rotting under the bed or somewhere else similar. After the first incident involving decomposing food in an out of the way spot, Sasuke swore never to eat in his room again. The smell had nearly gagged him. On the upside, it _had_ made Sakura pass out, which was downright hilarious. Right up until he had to carry her ass out of his room. Whatever happened to girls being lightweight, dainty little things?

"_KAKASHI-SENSEI!!" A loud cracking sound filled the room as the teacher's desk was nearly split in half. "What the hell is this?!"_

Seriously, Sakura had to be on steroids or _something_. To look so slender, but be that heavy and punch as hard as she did, there was no other logical explanation. There simply wasn't. That was why the Uchiha prided himself on being Haruno Sakura's best friend. It was the safest place to be, or at least, that was the theory, anyways.

"_That makes three of my desks this week, Sakura-chan. Trying for the record?" He laughed nervously at the scathing look she sent his way and made sure to keep his precious Icha Icha book out of her reach. "Maa, maa, Sakura. What seems to be the problem?"_

Still, violent or not, she was one of the best friends anyone could ask for. She'd been harassing him from the first day they met, but he wouldn't change it for the world. Sakura had been there when he needed her, needed the support after the tragedy that had befallen his family. Sasuke may have technically been alone after that, but Sakura had kept him in line. Checking up on him and dragging him off to socialize, she made sure he wasn't allowed the chance to sink into depression.

"_I honestly don't see how your dirty little books could possibly have anything to do with school," she stated furiously, waving the little paper she'd drawn out of the box in front of her like it was diseased. Poor Sakura, it always seemed to work out like that for her. She'd confided in Sasuke once that she was convinced he rigged these things and honestly, Sasuke couldn't refute the claim. The girl always seemed to get the strangest requests and the oddest projects from Kakashi, who appeared to take some sort of sick, perverted joy in her near constant frustration._

It really was too bad that a relationship between the two of them would never work out. She understood him on a level no one else before her had and in turn, he'd opened up to her as much as he was able. Really, it was insane how far the girl would go to drag a simple smile from him. He was grateful and had made a point of telling her so on many occasions. The downside, of course, was that Sakura couldn't stand his stubborn pride or some of his more slovenly habits. By the same token, Sasuke was _not_ a fan of near constant hospital visits. He'd much rather leave her in the capable hands of her boyfriend, Rock Lee. Always up for the challenge, Lee seemed to thrive on pain, if his constant injuries were anything to go by…

_Kakashi laughed. "Well, wouldn't that be the point of the project? For you to research how Jiraiya and the books that he has authored have helped this town prosper through the years?" Sakura yanked on her hair, barely containing a scream, before stomping angrily back to her seat. "In the meantime, everyone, shall we continue?"_

That was neither here nor there, though. Today wasn't supposed to be the 'reflect on life while hiding in your room' day. Today was intended to be the 'Go out and meet creepy hermits or get pounded by Sakura' day. As anti-social as Sasuke might be, he'd wine and dine this old weirdo like a love struck prom date if it meant skipping out on getting creamed by his best friend. However, he highly doubted it would take that to get what he wanted.

_Sasuke reached his hand into the Jaws of Death a.k.a. the unassuming shoebox and grabbed the first piece of paper his fingers grazed, hoping against hope that his project wouldn't be of the same caliber as Sakura's. Unfolding his paper, he scanned it quickly. Quietly, he folded it back and pocketed it, making sure to keep it out of sight of anyone else. Pinning their eccentric teacher with a glare of his own, he arched his eyebrow questioningly and waited._

Information. Preferably lots of it, neatly gift-wrapped, printed in ten point Times New Roman and right-aligned with extra spacing between paragraphs. Really, was it too much to ask? He certainly thought not.

"_Local folklore, Sasuke. Surely, being one of the top students here at this school, you can handle it. Due to the subject of your research, you may cite people as resources as well. However you will need to make sure you list their full names and a phone number at which they can be reached, otherwise I won't be able to accept it. Is that clear?"_

As he made his way to the laundry room in search of clean clothes, Sasuke found that he was beginning to agree with Sakura. The silver-haired man had to have some way of rigging these things. Kakashi's favorite targets always seemed to get the shit end of the stick, no matter what. And the man always took great pleasure in this. Sakura had to deal with a lecherous author for her project on his books, which were basically considered porn by the world at large. And Sasuke? Anti-social, haughty little Sasuke had to make nice with the ignorant masses to get information for his project on the fabled Konoha and its supposed society of ninjas. Because to do otherwise would be to admit defeat and fail the project.

Like hell, he would. Uchihas _never_ admitted defeat (unless it was to Sakura), Uchihas _never_ failed (at worst, they only broke even), and Uchihas _always_ evened the score (once more, Sakura didn't count). Oh, Sasuke would do this project. He would do it, do it well, and he would have his revenge. He would make Kakashi admit to him being not one of the top students, but being _the_ top student. Even better than Sakura, dammit. Or he would find a way to make the man pay. Perhaps his precious Icha Icha book would to find itself too close to a beaker of acidic contents that happened to tip, just so… and then, POOF, no more porn for poor Kakashi.

A sadistic smirk inched across Sasuke's face as he entered the laundry room, mentally cackling to himself. After a few moments of scrounging around, he found some clean clothes hanging out in the dryer and punched the on button, wanting to at least get the wrinkles out. He'd grab himself a shower and then head off to meet this strange man that Konohamaru had spoken so highly of.

--

"EH?!"

Sigh. Really, did everyone get together beforehand and plan their responses? Or was it just that all idiots were on the same wavelength? He made sure to keep such thoughts from his face, however. Silence reigned for a few moments, until a piece of meat falling from Idiot Number One's chopsticks broke the spell.

"Really?!"

No, he was lying out his ass because he was a sad little boy in desperate need of love and attention. Why did people always ask stupid questions like that?

"Oh my…"

Yes, thank you, Hinata, for that intelligent and ever so positive response to his plight.

"Troublesome."

Indeed. He found that he couldn't agree more with the lazy genius for once.

"…"

...he hadn't been expecting help from Gaara or Shino anyways, so that was okay.

"I wonder what kind of food ninjas ate…"

Yeah, he wasn't going to bother with that one.

"I can't believe it…"

Why did he hang around these people again? Oh yeah, because they were his friends. When the hell had he let that happen?

"That's just…"

Sasuke grunted. Idiot Number Two was on his side, it seemed.

"…SO COOL!!"

Right? That's exactly what he had- …wait. _Did he just say what I think he said?_ "Cool?"

"YOSH! To be gifted with such an exciting subject, our friend must be over-flowing with the power of his youth!"

_Oh, dear lord, someone shoot me now. Please?_

Sakura grinned at him and ruffled his hair. "Just face it, Sasuke-kun. You're fucked."

"So says the one who will be shortly after a certain perverted author gets a hold of her."

As one, all eyes at the table turned to stare, shocked, at the one who dared utter those words. Who continued to sip his drink, seemingly unconcerned by the possible repercussions.

"Dude… Shino…" Kiba finally managed. "Just… Awesome."

Who else but Idiot Number One would open their mouth at such a precarious moment? Hell, that was probably why Shino hadn't been worried. In fact, Sasuke considered that a stroke of sheer genius. Although, now that he thought about it, why wasn't Lee defending Sakura? A quick look in that direction explained everything. Sasuke had to say it again, even if only in his own head. Sheer genius. Gaara had precisely timed his move and had presented Lee a flyer of the latest marathon fundraiser for orphaned children of cancer patients. Shit, Sasuke half expected their green clad friend to have an orgasm right there on the table.

Of course, by the time Sasuke returned his attention to the doomed idiot, Sakura had already managed to jump the table, _almost_ managing to grab Kiba before he took off running like a scared little girl. Sadly, outside of a few chuckles, none of the other students in the cafeteria were overly surprised by the scene, as it was an everyday occurrence. Konohamaru hadn't even stopped eating as she vaulted over him.

One had to wonder, though; how did two people who normally spoke maybe two words in a day, let alone to each other, manage to plan such a concerted effort? Actually, no, Sasuke didn't _have_ to wonder. In fact, he chose to stop that train of thought right there. There were far too many possibilities, several of which were more disturbing than he cared to delve into.

"W-well, Sasuke-kun… I h-have to agree with Saku-kura-chan," Hinata spoke up suddenly, grabbing the raven-haired boy's attention. She paused a moment to gather herself before speaking again. "There's not a lot of written information on Konoha, especially since it's just a legend."

Ino smiled. "Yeah, but I mean, we could like help out, you know. I could ask my grandparents; see if maybe they know anything. It's worth a shot, at least. Right?" Hinata nodded and the blonde continued. "I'm sure the others could ask around, too. There's gotta be someone out there who knows something about it."

"Knows about what?" They looked up to see Moegi and Udon, trays of food in hand, staring curiously at them. "Sorry, the teacher went into lecture mode, making us late." Udon sniffled behind her in agreement and dug in his pockets for a tissue, content to let Moegi do the talking. "So what was it we missed?"

"Nothing much out of the norm." Ino hooked a thumb towards Sasuke's end of the table. "Outside of the usual attempts on Kiba's life, Kakashi-sensei's making life hell for the resident geniuses again." She snickered to herself when death glares followed by a sleepy 'troublesome' were the only responses. Passing her food off to her more rotund friend, Chouji, to make room (also prompting a war for said tray between him and Konohamaru), she propped her elbows on the table. "Shika's isn't too bad, but we all know how much he hates doing _anything_. As for Sakura and Sasuke…" she shrugged, "Sakura has to deal with that old pervert Jiraiya."

Moegi said a short prayer for Sakura's impending doom and looked over at the Uchiha. "What did he get you with this time, Sasuke-san?"

"Che." Sasuke's face screwed up in distaste, though whether it was from thinking about the project or being expected to speak, he wasn't too sure himself. He opted for both so as to have an excuse either way. "Konoha."

Udon peered from behind Moegi, pushing his glasses up on his nose, light hitting them at just the right angle as to hide his eyes from view. "You mean that old wives' tale about ninjas living in this area?" he asked, sounding a hell of a lot more interested than Sasuke felt. "There's not-"

"-a lot of information on it. We know. In fact, we were just discussing what a pain this is going to be for him." Ino grinned.

Sasuke glared an Ultra Death Glare at Ino to no effect, as she only giggled at him. He must be losing his edge. Or someone was making playboy bunny ears behind his head again. Gods knew, Ino was a closet fangirl. Sometimes, he found himself actually curious who she was imagining him with when she zoned out and started drooling. Most likely suspect: Sai. He was one of the only other single members of their group.

…And he was usually the one behind Sasuke making the bunny ears.

He gave a long-suffering sigh and quickly jabbed his elbow behind him. It connected with something soft, quickly followed by a pained groan, then silence. The raven smirked and returned his attention to the problem at hand.

"You know, now that I think about it…" Moegi started, lips pursed in thought. "Konohamaru." Idiot Number Two paused in his vicious battle for the gloriously tasty meat from Ino's tray and blinked up at his friends, mouth still chewing on whatever he had already acquired. "What about Oyabun?"

"Eh? O…yabun? As in 'boss'?" Ino blinked and everyone turned their attention to the junior.

Who promptly swallowed his food and eyed Moegi with a guarded expression. "What about the boss?"

"Couldn't he help Sasuke-kun out? I remember him telling us all kinds of stories about Konoha when we were younger."

Konohamaru lowered his chopsticks and frowned. "Maybe, but you know he doesn't like having strange people roaming around his place."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. Strange? Him? This, coming from the kid who constantly wore goggles on his head and an over-sized scarf around his neck.

Moegi crossed her arms and huffed. "I know that! But… Maybe if you warned him first? I mean, I doubt Sasuke-kun would hang around any longer than necessary. We all know he's way too emo to want to stay and try to make friends."

SUPER ULTRA DEATH GLARE SUPREME.

…still no effect. Goddammit, what did a guy have to do to be feared around here? Stab someone?

"See?"

Konohamaru jabbed his chopstick into the bread on his tray. "_That_ is my point," he said, motioning to Sasuke, whose hand was clearly advancing on Moegi with his own chopstick, murderous intent written blatantly across his face. "We all know that the Uchiha's idea of 'talking'," he explained, making the little quotations marks with his fingers as Moegi bent down slightly, reaching for something on the floor, "tends to be better known as 'indiscriminate violence'."

STAB… STAB STAB STA- oh wait. That wasn't Moegi.

"That… was painful, Sasuke-kun," Sai commented, smiling placidly, before being dropped unceremoniously back to the floor once his purpose as a human shield was complete.

_Sucks to be Sai today_, Sasuke thought to himself wryly.

Konohamaru sighed. "I just don't want Uchiha starting a fight with the boss; you know he's always been good to me."

Sasuke fought the urge to roll his eyes and leaned forward. "This is for school. I promise to behave myself."

"Behave?" Sakura asked, having just rejoined the conversation. Kiba was notably absent upon her return. Making her way over to Sasuke, she blinked down in confusion when her foot caught on something, eliciting another pained groan from the floor. "Why is Sai always on the floor when I show up?"

--

If Sasuke hadn't already known that Konohamaru was an idiot, he was now thoroughly convinced. The directions the kid had written the day before were not only illegible, but the small map he'd drawn to go along with it looked to have been done by a small child. It was even done in crayon. Orange crayon. It made him queasy just looking at it. That and Sasuke was pretty sure there were no rivers running through the middle of town.

Idiot Number Two had at least had the forethought to inform Sasuke that he was near his destination if he spotted the newspaper stand that belonged to Konohamaru's family.

"_If you get that far and still can't find your way, just get some directions from my grandpa, Sarutobi. He'll be the one running the stand tomorrow. Surely a genius like you wouldn't get lost, but I'll warn him anyways."_

Who the hell _wouldn__'t_ get lost when they were supposed to be following a non-existent river through the middle of town up to Mt. Fuji? Which, by the way, was at least half a continent away from them. Needless to say, Sasuke had long since scrapped the map and was relying solely on the written directions.

It's not to say that he wouldn't have been able to find the general area; after all, Konohamaru said the guy lived in a virtual forest and there was only one place near the edge of town that had enough trees to be considered such. He'd always been curious why the city had never mowed them down in their ever-growing need for urban development; wondered why the thought that they might one day made him sad. He hadn't realized that the land actually _belonged_ to someone already.

No, Sasuke's problem was finding the actual entrance that led to this guy's house in the midst of said forest. He didn't feel like walking the perimeter to try and find it; that was a lot of ground to cover and would've taken several hours at least. From looking at the clouds gathering in the sky, he didn't have that kind of time. And that was assuming it wasn't some little tiny footpath that could be easily overlooked. Somehow, from the way the brat talked about this guy, he doubted the man has some grandiose driveway with a sign posted above it saying 'You Are Here'.

Well, if the directions _were_ right, he wasn't that far from said entrance. In fact, he should be coming up on the family newspaper stand. Sasuke looked up from the paper and glanced around, immediately spotting it on a nearby corner down one of the main streets he was crossing. He could barely make out a white-haired, leathery-skinned old man, puffing away on a pipe, sitting inside. Sarutobi, obviously. He had an easy-going smile on his face as he warmly greeted people passing by…

Until his eyes roamed over Sasuke. It was very disconcerting the way the man seemed to stare right through him, as if his very soul was on display for Sarutobi to rifle through at his leisure.

…jeez, maybe he really was as emo as they claimed.

Still, the directions, while sketchy, hadn't led him wrong yet. And Sasuke wasn't sure how long he could stand to be looked at like that. He didn't exactly have any dark secrets to hide, but having his pain laid bare wasn't exactly in his agenda either. That and that strange familiarity from his dreams was creeping up on him again and Sasuke didn't trust himself to speak.

So instead, he nodded cordially to the gentleman, and went about his way, not bothering to look back.

Finally, reaching the edge of town some time later, he gave a sigh of relief. While it was no grandiose driveway with flashing neon signs, neither was it an unremarkable footpath covered in undergrowth.

Instead, there was a simple stone gateway to announce the cobbled pathway that disappeared into the trees. Sasuke felt that he should be nervous; a city-dweller stepping in a forest for the first time to meet with a strange man he knew very little about. He wasn't.

That strange awareness surged to the forefront of his consciousness once more, leaving him with a peculiar sense of… home. Relaxed and serene, an odd calm descended on him as he passed through the trees. At some point, he realized distantly, that he'd been walking for a quite a while now. Yet, he couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed.

Denial ever his friend, Sasuke chalked up his odd tranquility to it being his first time in a natural environment, full of life but not disturbed by it. That he could enjoy the feeling without others to distract him was that much more satisfying. For a fleeting moment, he thought he could understand why this man would lock himself away from the world behind his wall of foliage and cheered him for it.

Finally, the path came to an end, almost without Sasuke realizing it.

He stood before a very old, traditional looking Japanese house. As large as it was, the trees around it were gathered so close that, if you strayed from the path, one might have passed within a few meters of the property without ever realizing it. Glancing over it, it was obvious it had seen better years, even if it was still well cared for. From what he could see, wandering the area in front of the house, it had probably been part of a much larger installation before renovations had cut it down. And being that there was no signs of recent work, said deconstruction had more than likely taken place decades ago.

Stepping up onto the porch finally, he noted a couple of lawn chairs and an odd design painted near the door, too faded to make out. He knocked lightly on the door and waited.

…and waited.

…and glared.

Frowning, he knocked again, this time a little harder.

…and waited. Again. This time, _while_ glaring. Let that be a lesson.

Grumbling, he stepped back off the porch, listening for any sound that might lead him to the owner, but no such luck. Just normal forest sounds. Or at least, what he assumed were normal forest sounds. In fact, now that he thought about it, with so many trees in one place, it was actually kind of dark in here… He _really_ hoped those were normal forest sounds.

Frowning at his own ignorance (maybe he did need to get out more often, as Sakura was always chiding him), he leaned against one of the porch's posts for a few minutes, but there was still no sign of the mystery man.

Well, that figured. Idiot Number Two probably forgot to tell the guy he was coming. Or, being that he did keep company with the likes of Konohamaru, this man was probably no less of an idiot himself. Maybe he forgot all on his own. Or maybe, living in a place like this, the guy was really just a closet hippie. Yeah, that was probably it.

"Che, probably off hugging a tree somewhere."

"Oh," a voice whispered huskily into his ear, "and should I be hugging you instead?"

Sasuke froze, a faint blush dusting his pale cheeks. Because he was angry. Completely. Yeah. He cleared his throat and stepped away, turning to face the owner of that voice. Only to find himself freezing up once more. Eyes dilating and heart racing as _those_ voices rose within his mind; Sasuke found that breathing had suddenly become quite a hard thing to do.

"_The pain of being alone…"_

Toeless sandals, a pair of loose fitting blue jeans, and a white wife-beater adorned a toned body, tanned by near constant sun.

"_**Did you know**__...?"_

A wild mop of blonde hair spiked out in all directions, coincidentally managing to frame the man's face, and just short enough that it didn't need to be pulled back into a ponytail.

"_We're the same…"_

None of that was important. Now that he thought about it, neither was breathing; it was getting too hard to do anyways. No, all that mattered were his eyes. Those eyes that instantly entranced Sasuke; impossibly blue and looking about as confused as he felt.

"_**Did you get hurt…**__?"_

_Then_ Sasuke remembered why breathing was so important, as his vision darkened and he hit the ground face first for the second time that day, Uchiha pride be damned.

--

Brushing off the strange sense of familiarity, Naruto cocked an eyebrow at the unconscious stranger and grinned. "Heh, always knew I was a knockout."

* * *

Okies Hopefully, everyone liked this better. Lol Little less on the drama there. And sadly, not nearly as strange as the next chapter, which I've already started work on. Got the first scene done in a fit of dream-induced hysteria. Very strange. And there is no note from our dear Beta this time because… her computer _apparently_ died after a power surge. I had nothing to do with this terribly tragic event. I swear. I wasn't even informed it had occurred until yesterday. By someone else. She may have told me, but I have a bad habit of not paying attention to people on the phone. Silly habit, really. This was, thankfully, Beta'ed beforehand. Yay for me? xD

And a **HUGE** thanks to everyone who reviewed. :3 I didn't get the chance to answer them due to work, but my nifty little phone made me well aware of all of them. :D So... I think I'll go answer them now. Whee!

**- JadeAnime**

**Lament of the Highborne, World of Warcraft**


	3. Kitai (Expectation)

**Disclaimer:** I own a lot of things. Like my pretty phone that feeds me fanfiction while I'm at work. However, the pretty phone does not garner me the rights to Naruto. Sad times.

**Summary: **In the midst of a war, he made a promise. He kept it. Now, centuries later, thanks to the twisted mind of one Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke meet once more.

**Warnings:** I woke up, I typed. I won't admit to being the most… lucid person in the morning. So, you're own your own. Then I brain farted forever. And typed some more.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**-Kitai-**

* * *

Well, that had been hilarious. For all of five minutes. Then reality rained on his little parade by informing that it actually would be raining shortly and he had a teenager passed out in his yard. People were heavy to drag around. He knew from experience. So Naruto was seriously half-tempted to leave him there. The kid was on his property without his permission and had the audacity to pass out before introducing himself. Honestly. Though, Naruto supposed, that was due in part to his drop dead gorgeous looks, so he ought to take pity on the kid.

But only a little.

That, and for the brat to have wandered into his yard meant that he'd probably been looking for it. He seemed a bit too old to be getting lost in the woods. Not like that runt, Konohamaru, who still managed to stray from the path and lose himself amongst the trees.

At least, those were the excuses Naruto kept chanting in his head to try and forget that stirring of long-forgotten things. Trying to remember certain things in his past always seemed to bring nothing but pain, both literally and figuratively. So he'd just as soon do without those agonizing memories.

Yet, when this kid had turned to face him…

Hooking a toe underneath the raven's gut, he gave a slight heave with his foot, easily flipping the teenager onto his back. Pale features, almost feminine in quality, stood out in stark contrast to the ebony color of his hair. It was almost like staring at a living, breathing porcelain doll. And he had the oddest urge to break it.

"Heh." The need to follow through on that urge was an almost physical thing, but Naruto had long since learned to control himself.

His stomach growled.

Well, when it mattered, anyways. That was the important thing. Sighing, he crouched down next to the kid, poking him in the side a couple of times.

"Oi."

Not even so much as a twitch of one of those ebony eyebrows. Naruto frowned, poking him harder. "Oi."

No reaction. Maybe with a stick? Or perhaps that jagged rock? Nope, still nothing. Jeez, he'd almost think the kid was dead if not for the steady rise and fall of his chest. So now what? Naruto still didn't feel like dragging him up onto the porch. Suddenly, a grin split across his face and he disappeared into his house.

He returned shortly, chuckling to himself. It had taken a couple minutes to find it, but he finally had. A thoughtful look on his face, he pulled off the cap and began reaching for the teenager's face...

"If…" came the deadly quiet voice, causing Naruto to reel back, "there is even _one_ mark on my face…" Naruto hid the marker behind his back and smiled nervously. "I'll kill you."

_Oblivion_, was Naruto's only coherent thought for a moment as the raven's eyes eased open, already focused on his own. Those abysmally black eyes, that penetrating gaze, that murderous intent… It was all very familiar to Naruto. Something he felt he _should_ remember, but found that he could not. Yet, something was off…

"You're staring."

"You're trespassing."

"…I should have known better than to trust that idiot."

"It's about to rain."

"Sakura's going to worry."

Naruto blinked in confusion and gave up, convinced they weren't even apart of the same conversation. Pocketing his marker, he stood and brushed the dirt off his pants, retreating under the roof of the porch. The kid was conscious; he could fend for himself now.

He grabbed one of the lawn chairs and pulled it towards the edge, turning to sit in it, only to find the brat still hadn't moved. He simply lay there, staring up at the sky, his face emptied of any emotion.

It was creepy.

And it made him wonder idly if the kid was on drugs as he made himself comfortable. He'd heard teenagers were into that sort of thing these days.

Another minute passed in silence, irritating Naruto. Just because he was a hermit didn't mean he _liked_ the quiet. "Brat, either get up or I'll have a bear come eat your face."

"There aren't any bears out here."

"You sure about that?"

The teenager eyed him suspiciously for a moment before doing as asked. He gave Naruto a wide berth, almost like he thought Naruto would attack him. A completely unwarranted reaction, in Naruto's opinion. Unless you included the whole marker thing. Or the staring. Or the bears. Really, that _was_ an idea. Naruto made a mental note to try and find out how one would go about obtaining a bear. Preferably a cub, so that he could train it not to eat _him_. Would be embarrassing to have to run away from his own bear.

"…"

The teenager had taken up a spot, leaning against the nearest post and crossing his arms. He glanced at Naruto only a moment before deciding that his empty yard was more interesting. How rude. Again, bear. Eating face. It would be awesome. Or at the very least, he could get a cat. And throw it at people's faces. No, maybe not. He'd still have to deal with them afterwards. The bear was definitely a better choice.

"I… I apologize for intruding."

Naruto blinked. Well, maybe he might not be bear worthy. One shouldn't be too hasty in their decision-making, after all. There was no coming back from face-eating bears. "Uh… you're forgiven?"

"Konohamaru sent me here, said you could help me."

"Ah, the runt. Well, that would explain the lack of warning." Naruto grinned, holding his hand out to the raven. "Name's Uzumaki Naruto, don't you forget it. I'll be famous around the world one day, just wait."

"Hn." The teenager cocked an eyebrow at Naruto while tentatively taking the offered hand. "Won't that be hard to accomplish hiding out here in the woods?"

Naruto glared playfully. "I'm just busy trying to decide what I want to be famous for."

The kid stared at him a moment, as if trying to decide something. Then he smirked, obviously amused. "Hn." And just that little bit of emotion transformed his entire face; made it softer, warmer. More… handsome teenage heartthrob and less… creepy stalker going to murder you in your sleep with your own nail file.

"Alright, 'Hn', can I get a name? Or will I have to pick one?"

The smirk widened, heading mildly back into creepy land. "Hn," he responded, shaking Naruto's hand. "Sasuke." Naruto felt a twinge of his earlier uneasiness returning. "Uchiha Sasuke." The blonde's smile finally faltered, hand dropping back to his side. "I'm sorry, did you say Uchiha?" Sasuke nodded slowly and the man's smile almost turned into a frown, before he forced it back into place. No sense if provoking the kid to take a nail file to him. "A lot of history in that name... and to what do I owe the honor of your visit today, Uchiha-san?"

"Sasuke."

The blonde frowned; his curiosity peaked mildly by the correction. "Okay, Sasuke then, but the question still remains."

Sasuke sighed. "Well…" Oh, yay, story time. That was exactly what he needed this early in the morning before he'd even had a chance to eat.

Naruto kept a supportive smile on his face while the kid explained his situation. School project, uh huh, evil sadistic teacher with a porn fetish, okay, research, right, ramen, absolutely awesome… Wait, no, not ramen. _Pay attention!_ Naruto scolded himself. He nodded and grunted in all the appropriate places, all while trying to ignore the growing need in his belly making itself more known with each passing second. He had to focus! Someone was actually coming to him for help, he should oblige by giving it, especially for something so simple.

At the very least, it would help pass the time.

_So hungry… FOCUS!_ He had to focus on something, dammit, or this kid was going to end up glaring at him again. Sadly, there wasn't much in the area he hadn't seen before. Several times.

Except for the kid himself.

Attempting to use the kid as a focal point, he took in the other's formerly pristine appearance. Spotless white sneakers, baggy tan cargo shorts that reached just below the other's knees, a tight black undershirt with a now-dirty white dress shirt hanging open over that. Pale skin over a wiry frame… Did this kid ever get any sun? Probably not; he'd probably shrivel up here in about ten minutes. Those endless onyx eyes and black hair styled… styled like… "Duck-butt?"

Sasuke stopped speaking mid sentence and blinked. The temperature of the air around them seemed to drop several degrees below freezing as Sasuke's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. Naruto really hoped the chill he was feeling was from the incoming rain and not Sasuke's murderous intent. He didn't even own a nail file! "Excuse me?"

Okay, maybe face-eating bears hadn't been such a bad idea, after all. Naruto squeaked and scooted farther back onto the porch, holding his hands up defensively. " I… Uh… Well, that is to say… I'm hungry, you see… Haven't had time to eat breakfast yet… And I talk all kinds of crazy talk when I'm hungry. So how about… we continue this conversation inside over some food?" At Sasuke's bewildered look, Naruto jumped up and headed for the door, a panicked smile plastered on his face. "Have you eaten yet? I'll fix you something. How about ramen? Ramen's great first thing in the morning!"

Sasuke's obviously disgusted look informed Naruto that perhaps his choice of food did not sit well with the teen. Well, that was too bad. There wasn't a time that Naruto could remember that he hadn't liked having ramen at all times of the day. And if Sasuke wanted help, by gods, he was going to have to wait until Naruto had had his fill of the delicious noodles.

"So…" the raven began as he followed Naruto inside.

"Hm?"

There was a short pause. "Are there really bears out here?"

Naruto turned his head just enough so that the Uchiha could see the grin on his face. "No."

"…hate you."

----------------------

"So?"

"So what?"

"What do you think?"

"I think the magazine _was_ completely out to get me."

"I meant about your meeting with the old hermit two days ago!"

"Who said he was old?" Sasuke sighed and carefully placed his chopsticks across his bowl. Sakura colored from embarrassment for a few seconds. He shook his head mentally, knowing what would be coming shortly. _3_…

"Isn't it like… breaking a hermit code somewhere for him not to be old?" Sakura leaned back in her chair to stare at the ceiling for a moment. _2_…

She appeared to be in deep thought, when a sudden blush worked its way onto her face. _1_…

Her head snapped towards him so fast, he swore he heard bones cracking. _0_.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, dearest friend," she sing-songed, a grin slowly spreading across her face. "Would you be so kind as to tell me what our _young_ hermit looks like?"

He stared her down mercilessly, hoping against hope that this would finally be the time such tactics worked on the girl. The grin just widened as she leaned closer, like a predator sensing weakness. "No."

She leaned back in her chair, pouting and looked around at the other students filing into the cafeteria. "Please?"

"No."

Her eyes slid back to him slowly, reminding him again of that predator analogy. This, for Sakura, really wasn't too far off the mark. He wondered briefly if she would know anything about bears… "Alright," she relented, her face becoming blank. _Oh shit._ She blinked and like the clearing of a fog, a sweet, warm smile lightened up her face. "I understand, Sasuke."

_Eh?No –kun?! Oh shit, oh shit._ He looked around quickly for some means of escape or protection as Sakura slid from her seat and slowly edged closer. _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit._ Taking a page out of Moegi's book, he reached for the nearest warm body, jerking it in front of him just as he saw Sakura's hand draw back, tightened into a fist.

"What the fuck, Uchi~"

That was all Idiot Number One had time to manage before Sakura's fist connected with his stomach. The dog lover lowered himself to the floor and curled protectively around his stomach, muttering about stupid Uchihas and sadistic women.

Both Sakura and Sasuke cocked patronizing eyebrows. "Oh please, Kiba. I hit you harder this morning," Sakura informed him.

"In the same place," Kiba managed to force out.

Sasuke smirked at that while Sakura had the good sense to at least look mildly apologetic. "Oh. Um… Sorry about that, Kiba." She patted him on the head, considering the matter closed and returned her attention to Sasuke. "Now, back to the topic at hand."

_One track mind_, he sighed internally. "I explained the situation, he agreed to help. It's as simple as that, Sakura. I'll be heading over there this weekend to start working." No need to explain the ramen, the bears, the ground, the mar- Oh gods, life was going to be hell on earth for the next several weeks. He wondered briefly if Kakashi had known about Naruto, or was in league with him. It seemed a bit far-fetched, but he wouldn't put anything past the perverted teacher. Or Naruto, for that matter.

"Why the wait?"

Sasuke shrugged lightly. "Said something about wanting time to dig out his materials. I guess he had all of the stuff stored away somewhere in one of the rooms. Makes sense; you don't exactly use information on Konoha in everyday life."

-----------------------

The door stood, almost ominous in its presence. During the discussion with the teenager over breakfast (more like talking _to_), he'd told the brat he'd need several days to get all his things together. He was glad he had. In truth, it wasn't that Naruto needed that long to gather _materials_, so much was it was _courage_.

Naruto took a deep breath and slid the door open. He moved through the room, treading a path to the window kept clear of his 'memories.' These so-called 'memories' were simply items that Naruto had collected over the years to help him remember times passed. It was similar to how most people kept a photo album, but Naruto's memory stretched much further than any mere photo album could cover. Sometimes, touch, smell, or even sound was necessary to help jog his memory.

There were _some_ things Naruto remembered quite well on his own. '_Like that time with Kathryn in Greece_,' he thought, grinning.

Of course, there were also some things that the blonde spent a lot of time trying to forget...

He pushed the dark curtains open, allowing the sun to invade the room it only saw once every fifty years or so. This was where his most recent collections were placed until it became too crowded. Today in particular, some of the items in there dated back almost a century. Naruto hadn't really felt the need to add much in the last hundred years. In fact, the last thing that had truly affected him had been a war almost at the beginning of that hundred year mark.

He'd ended up watching over an orphaned child he'd rescued from the debris of a destroyed home. She hadn't lived very long, though. Apparently, there was something in the weapons used that had slowly, but surely poisoned her. The battered doll she'd kept with her held a place of honor on a shelf near the window, away from the rest of the stuff littering the room.

Passed that, this last while had been strangely calm and unremarkable.

Until recently, that was.

Konohamaru. His name alone had been enough to drag those buried memories to the surface. That the other two, along with Kono's grandfather, had showed up looking for him that fateful day had only solidified the recollection.

Of course, with remembering came the images of how so many of them had died…

Naruto growled, shaking his head, as he moved towards a wall covered in various key holders. Yanking the first key from its place, he stalked out of the room. Allowing himself to get depressed over the past wouldn't change anything. Besides, if Kono's reincarnation was any indication…

The Uchiha. The name had nagged him throughout the entire conversation with the teenager.

Naruto tread through the halls quietly, eventually exiting into the backyard. Shielding his eyes from the evening sun, he peered out into the forest, gaze wandering in several directions before finally striking out into the undergrowth.

This was why he'd wanted to time to gather himself, to be able to come here. 'Here' being the underground storage areas that littered the property. These were where the stuff from the room got moved to when it got too full.

This one in particular was the oldest. It was special. This storage contained everything he'd been able to salvage after the destruction of Konoha. Inside was all that he had left of his first life, of his friends…

Naruto paused and nodded to himself before started toeing the dirt. He was glad, after the first couple hundred years that he'd learned to start making the entrances above ground. Maybe one of these days, he'd actually remember to bring something out here to mark these early ones wi-

'_Found it. Ow.'_

He winced and leaned down; digging into the dirt where he'd stubbed his toe. After a moment, he found the combination lock and after making quick work of it, was on his way down.

The air was musty and stale, reminding Naruto again of how long it had been since he'd been down here. Truthfully, Naruto hadn't built this particular storage unit. He'd simply stumbled across it when he'd been clearing away rubble.

The reason he was here though, wasn't really to help that kid with his project. He remembered the basics of Konoha well enough without resorting to coming down here. Of course, all the stories he'd passed onto Konohamaru were simply retellings of folktales and legends concocted by people who had never been to Konoha. Last thing he needed was some kooky historian taking an interest in the _real_ story of Konoha and crawling all over Naruto's house, hounding or mocking him.

Basics aside, his time in Konoha _was_ a little fuzzy; it had been centuries ago, after all. That was why it wasn't until the kid was leaving, that the realization had washed over Naruto like a bucket of cold water.

Sasuke.

Sasuke was… _Sasuke_. That was _his_ Sasuke, the genius avenger who hated everything, was stubborn to a fault, and always seemed to have a fangirl following wherever he went. Or rather, it was the reincarnation of him.

At that moment, Naruto had felt three emotions very poignantly, each warring for dominance. The first had been anger – anger at Sasuke for all the things he'd done wrong, for never understanding, for making Naruto what he was today. The second had been happiness. This Sasuke, while still bearing that trademark, ever-present aura of loneliness, had not let it consume him. Recalling their conversation, Naruto could hear it in his voice, see it in his face. This Sasuke smiled and laughed; this Sasuke was happy.

And as that thought came and went, Naruto found that it was quickly followed by a feeling of bone deep weariness. The blonde was tired; tired of the daily toil of living, tired of watching time pass as he stood still, but mostly he was just tired of being alone.

And that was why he was here.

He didn't want to _actively_ interfere in Sasuke's new life. But if perhaps, because of a small reminder, the avenger happened to regain the memories of his past life… Well, Sasuke wouldn't let such a slight against his newfound life go unpunished and Naruto would be waiting for him.

If he didn't remember though, Naruto would be satisfied with knowing Sasuke was alive and happy somewhere out there, even if he wasn't a part of that life.

He paused a moment, allowing his eyesight to adjust to the low light streaming in from the entrance, before moving in determined strides towards the back of the room.

* * *

**Jade:** Yes, I know. Captain Obvious. I have been a member of that crew at one point or another. But they threw me overboard when I drank all the rum.

**Pissy:** Gar? O.o

**Jade: **And uh… sorry for taking so long. xD That last scene… was very hard. Mostly because my brain wanted to add _a lot_ more than necessary. Which, made for a boring read… and a loss of interest in writing the scene. Which turned into a brain fart. Brain finally saw the logic in cutting out certain things and allowed me to write it. xD My fear was that it was going to be boring and emo. D: Then suddenly all I could hear was Stormy from Sea Lab 2021 saying, "Greek chicks are hot." Good times.

The next chapter is already in progress, so we'll see how this goes. I just need to convince Pissy to write a story _with_ me. I understand Sasuke on like… some instinctual level. xD However, Naruto is… a mystery to me, much as I loves him. Apparently, it's vice versa for Pissy. It could work. D:

Reviews are much loved. Cookie? Cake? Caramelldansen?


	4. Rain

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own it. And no, I won't share my cookies. I already ate them.

**Summary:** In the midst of a war, he made a promise. He kept it. Now, centuries later, thanks to the twisted mind of one Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke meet once more.

**Warnings:** It's been forever since I've written anything, so if I don't cross my I's and dot my t's, please forgive me. Outside of that, you are warned of an erratic, absent-minded author who likes to over-dramatize. It's all I seem to be good at writing. *cry*

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Rain**

* * *

It had taken several tries and more than a few hours before Naruto had managed to gather the courage to enter the storage room. He was finally goaded into descending the small stairway when rain, warm and almost comforting, began to pour down…

…_soaking the ground already slick with blood…_

…pounding into the already muddied earth. As he reached the bottom, he looked back out for a moment, watching the darkening sky as gray clouds fought their way across it. Naruto always felt that he should enjoy the rain; it was beautiful and peaceful to watch, even when storm winds blew the water chaotically about. Still, he could never bring himself to like it. Watching it, he'd only ever felt sadness and heartache, for reasons he'd long since forgotten.

…_lifeless…_

Until now. For a long time, he had immersed himself in those feelings, trying to recapture the memories that were important enough to still linger in his heart to this very day. Tracing back in his mind as far as he could recall, but there was nothing after a certain point. At best, he could bring up fuzzy images or disjointed information. He knew that he had once lived in a village teeming with people, people who were far from ordinary. Surely, he'd had family or friends that had been important to him.

…_what more could they do?_

His mind always seemed to snag on this, more than anything else and he would sit for hours, trying to dredge up some memory or image of these people. His mind tended to only present him with colors instead, sometimes with some vague emotion attached to the color. White usually brought with it feelings of irritation, embarrassment, and gratitude. Green always seemed to make him grin and want to do something weird, like a strike a pose. A silly thought, that. People would think he was a loon, out in the middle of nowhere doing weird poses alone.

…_the price of his happiness…_

Three colors, especially, always seemed to bring with it a plethora of half-remembered emotions. Pink was calm, determination, admiration, and for some strange reason, Naruto could swear he could feel the ghostly pain of being punched. It made him cock an eyebrow on those random occasions, rubbing the offended area.

_Why had he let it come to this?_

Black. Black had been the only image, a pair of mysterious eyes, eyes like Sasuke's, that Naruto felt could see through you, see everything stripped down to its barest form. With that there was anger, jealousy, awe, rivalry, soothing, possessiveness… Far too many things filled Naruto's head and those were but a few examples that he had managed to untangle from the mess. What always caught him off guard was the warmth that would fill him, making him strangely happy.

_Killing him would only serve as a release…_

However, Naruto found that if he dwelled on those eyes too long, the warmth would fade into a spine-chilling cold filled with loneliness and depression would settle over him, so thick, he felt he could almost choke on it.

"_**Naruto…**"_

Red. Those eyes that Naruto had come to love as they were one of his few true memories would change then. Washed away in a sea of crimson, Naruto could feel a touch of fear and heartache as those eyes, devoid of life, would close. Somehow, Naruto sensed that they had never opened again after that.

_He was afraid._

Maybe that was why he had never been able to remember. Even now, despite knowing that this Sasuke was _that _Sasuke, he was only getting vague impressions, not real memories. Something tragic had happened, something so horrible that his mind couldn't handle the reality of the situation and had locked the past away to keep him sane. And perhaps that was why he was always drawn to watch the rain; as a reminder of the things he had lost, within those long-forgotten memories.

…_perhaps the sky was crying for him._

**- This is a break because it won't let me do it the way I used to -**_  
_

He was pissed.

No, not quite right.

He was beyond pissed.

Sasuke was willing to admit it to _himself_ that he was being mildly irrational. _Mildly_. Certainly, he had reason enough to be at least a _little_ angry. Uzumaki had specified what time for him to show up and now here he was. Alone. Being stood up. Like he was some crater-faced prom date or something. Wait… why the hell was he comparing himself to a prom date _again_?!

Ugh.

Seriously. He was awake. In the morning. On a weekend. Again. What a waste of another Saturday morning. Really, he would've been sleeping in.

It certainly didn't help that something about the older man seemed to rub Sasuke the wrong way. He'd only been here twice now, meeting Uzumaki once so far, but whatever it was about this place, about the blonde himself perhaps, seemed to key up his emotions up beyond logical reasoning. It was disturbing, but Sasuke couldn't seem to control it and to be honest, he didn't really care to try. The sooner he got this done, the sooner he'd be away from here and it wouldn't matter anymore.

At least, that had been the plan. It figured that brainless dobe would manage to throw a wrench into said plans. Uzumaki was nowhere to be found. Which was strange, because didn't people normally lock their houses when they left? So, either the asshole was hiding somewhere, thinking this was some kind of a funny prank or the blonde was that stupidly naïve.

Sasuke was willing to put money on the latter.

After he'd shown up and gotten no answer from knocking on the door, Sasuke had decided to sit and wait. Maybe the dobe had to run to the store or something.

Fifteen minutes passed with still no sign of the idiot so Sasuke went ahead and started searching the area. He thought he'd seen a something in the woods, but had turned up empty-handed. After and hour, he'd found the door unlocked and ventured inside, only to find the place vacant. There was even a thin layer of dust beginning to coat a bit of the furniture, which Sasuke found odd considering the absolute spotlessness he'd witnessed on his last visit.

Grumbling to himself, the teenager had retreated back to the porch to wait again. He didn't know why, but looking around, Sasuke suddenly had the vague notion that Uzumaki needed some sort of yard decorations. Like flowers, or maybe even some lawn gnomes. A definite sign, he thought, that this was too damn early to be awake.

At least, that's what he tried to convince himself of. He most certainly wasn't trying to distract himself from looking for a certain idiot adult and he _definitely_ wasn't keeping an eye out for any prowling animals. Uchihas were not afraid of mere beasts. And that surely included any surly face-eating bears.

Yup.

…Sasuke made a mental note to start watching Animal Planet more often.

**- This is a break because it won't let me do it the way I used to -**

The cold, an ever-present enemy, seemed to have rallied its forces and struck once more. Apparently, a spy had revealed to it Naruto's one weakness – his uncovered nose. This then proceeded to twitch madly as a chilly breeze caressed it, ever so softly. Naruto shuddered and wondered why he'd left the window open again. Only, he couldn't remember why he would've, considering it had been raining. For that matter, he couldn't even remember going to bed.

Easing his eyes open and immediately taking stock of his protesting muscles, Naruto realized why he couldn't remember going to bed. It was because he hadn't. He'd passed out in the Konoha storage room.

Figures. It had happened a few times over the years. It was probably caused by some kind of residual damage to his psyche due to severe emotional trauma. Or at least, that was what a couple of shrinks had told him. What a waste of money that had been; he didn't need someone else to tell him his head was fucked up.

It was a bit strange, though. He hadn't passed out like that in a long time, the last time being that incident where the bridge had collapsed, killing dozens. A bridge that just so happened to be called the Naruto Bridge. He'd actually been in town grocery shopping when it had happened and had seen the news report through the window of an electronics store he was passing.

It was silly, but he'd still felt somehow responsible for those lives because it was _his _bridge.

Upon coming home that night, he'd smelled something strangely familiar in the air. And immediately passed out. He'd woken later, in bed, with a small headache and that smell still lingering.

And just like then, he found himself moved, though not nearly as comfortable this time. Last thing he remembered was standing next to the glass case at the back of the room. Now he was sitting against one of the stone walls, covered by one of the Akatsuki cloaks that had been stored down here and nursing the start of a horrendous headache.

That smell was there again, too. Naruto sniffed the air experimentally, trying to at least figure out where it was coming from. The smell was beyond faint, however. It was either too old or had simply drifted in from outside.

"Wonder how long I've been out…" Throwing the cloak aside, he pushed himself up and off the wall, only to reel back as a horrid smell assaulted his nose. _'Long enough, apparently, ugh.' _

'Assault' might have even been putting it lightly. This was more like a two hundred pound ex-con opening up a can of whoop ass on some poor retarded kid. It literally smelled like old sweaty gym socks that had mildewed…

'_Not too far off the mark, apparently,'_ Naruto thought to himself, sniffing his clothes disdainfully. Sighing, he pushed himself up again and headed for the exit. With only a few pairs of clean clothes left, it looked like he was going to have to do laundry. Seriously, spending an eternity doing laundry had to be some god's cosmic idea of a practical joke.

**- This is a break because it won't let me do it the way I used to -**

"So, you were where?"

"Out," was Naruto's rather mechanical response. Really, did Sasuke's parents never teach the child that repeatedly asking for things was not the way to get what you wanted? This was the fifth time the Uchiha had asked since Naruto had found him on the porch, apparently trying to set the forest on fire with the lasers beams from his heated glare.

…Naruto could only assume the batteries were dead.

Still, they'd actually gotten a lot accomplished since then. After Naruto had taken a shower, they'd parked themselves at the kitchen table, taking notes from several dusty history books and discussing stories that had been passed down orally. And outside of Sasuke's childish repetition of questioning his whereabouts, things had gone rather well. As the raven sat back in his chair, stretching, Naruto reached into his pocket, pulling out a metal case about the size of his hand and reached towards Sasuke. "Here."

Sasuke paused mid-yawn to eye Naruto's outstretched hand warily. Working with the blonde really hadn't been that bad. Rather, the dobe had actually been rather helpful… when he was being serious. Sasuke almost wanted to thank Konohamaru for referring Naruto to him. _Almost_. Because if there was one thing Sasuke had learned about Naruto today, it was that the man was an obnoxious pervert. Though, he still wasn't nearly as bad as Kakashi.

Sasuke's could already feel the soreness seeping into his muscles from sitting still too long, but he readied himself to make a quick escape, should it become necessary. Which, of course, seemed to amuse the blonde, but he wisely kept any comments to himself while he was within the Uchiha's striking range.

He couldn't help himself, really. Sasuke had only known the guy a week and suddenly Mr. Sunshine wanted to give him something? And smiling idiotically the whole while. It _couldn't_ be good. It had to be some kind of Trojan horse, some kind of prank Naruto was pulling to fuck with him again.

Or maybe… it was just Trojans.

Sasuke cringed, realizing he'd just thought of Naruto and condoms at the same time. That he could even conceive of such from an apparently innocent gesture just went to show that the Uchiha knew more than his _fair_ share of perverts. Stupid Kakashi.

He slowly pulled the case from Naruto's hand, sure to keep an eye on the blonde for any suspicious movement. When there were none, he turned his attention to the case itself. It was simple, small, and very old by the looks of it. Curiosity finally winning out, he opened it. Inside was a blue headband with a metal plate attached to it, a leaf-like symbol carefully etched into the metal. Strangely, there was another mark crudely scratched through the image.

Sasuke frowned, recalling from their earlier discussions that this was a forehead protector, given to graduates when they were officially initiated into the ninja ranks. Just by looking at it however, Sasuke guessed that this wasn't just some simple replica.

"It's yours."

He looked up at Naruto, confused for a moment by the way the blonde had spoken. Perhaps he was imagining it, though. "I don't understand." He pulled the headband from the box as delicately as he could and began examining it.

Naruto's expression fell and, for a moment, became completely unreadable. The silence caught Sasuke's attention and he gently placed the protector back in its box. "It's yours. Keep it. You can use it for your project. Just… take good care of it," he said, diverting his attention to the kitchen window.

Sasuke got the feeling that Naruto had expected something from him. Whatever this was meant to test, he'd just failed miserably. And it irked him. "This headband, it's a Konoha forehead protector. A real one. Isn't it?" Naruto nodded after several moments and Sasuke started becoming frustrated. "Why do you have it then? Why not give it to a muse-"

"NO!" Naruto shocked Sasuke with the force of his response, coming out of his seat and reaching for the box so quickly that Sasuke barely had time to react. Yet he did, surprising even himself as he snatched the box to his chest protectively before Naruto could grab it. Naruto blinked, his hand frozen above the table as he stared at Sasuke a moment. Then a small smile worked its way onto his face and next thing Sasuke knew, Naruto was laughing so hard, he had tears in his eyes. He was seriously beginning to wonder if he should bolt and cut his losses.

Naruto finally calmed down and after wiping the tears from his eyes, he motioned to Sasuke. "It's okay; you can sit back down now, Uchiha." Sasuke frowned; feeling like confusion was going to become a constant state of being around this man. Looking around, he was mildly bewildered to find that not only had he jumped out of his seat when he snatched the box, he'd actually managed to cross the room without realizing it.

He huffed and edged his way back to his seat, making sure to keep the box out of Naruto's reach. Naruto had to smother any more laughter, knowing at this point, it would only serve to anger Sasuke. Really, he was so much like the teme, at least in all the ways that mattered…

"_**All the more reason why there is meaning in taking you down.**"_

The flash of memory burned through Naruto's mind, shoving several more pieces into place. His barely audible gasp at the white hot pain slicing through his head like a knife caught Sasuke's attention, whose look of concern didn't go unnoticed. Naruto forced a grin onto his face, despite the momentary pain, and started packing the books back into boxes. "I think it's about time we wrap this up, don't you, brat?" Sasuke glared at Naruto, annoyed at having been called a brat yet again. "Yo, I'm trying to save you. You've been here for hours and your parents are probably worried sick."

Something snapped inside Sasuke at that and he began gathering his things quietly, making a point to place the headband's container carefully amidst the other items in his bag. He paused at the kitchen door and looked back at Naruto, his face blank. "Do you really think I'd be out here alone in the middle of the woods with some creepy old pervert if I had those?"

Before Naruto could respond, Sasuke was gone.

**- This is a break because it won't let me do it the way I used to -**

"Well, how did it go?"

"I don't want to talk about."

"I don't remember asking if you did." Sakura grinned. "I've been so busy with my own project; I haven't been able to catch up with you the past few days. So~! Tell me, what's the freaky old hermit done to upset you?"

Sasuke mumbled something almost inaudible around his bottle of water, but Sakura was highly fluent in emo-speak and food-anese. She had to be in order to be best friends with the dour Uchiha. And rather than being annoyed with her assumption about his emotional state, he'd chosen to correct her about the freaky old hermit's true age. Apparently, he was a freaky _young_ hermit. This made him suddenly so much more interesting.

"And who said I was upset?"

Maybe he was annoyed. "Oh, don't pout."

"Uchihas don't pout."

"Yes, yes, and women don't fart and Ino's saving herself for marriage."

Sasuke immediately began choking on the previously mentioned water and glared at the pinkette. "What the he-" He was cut off by another short coughing fit. "What the hell, Sakura?"

She giggled and after picking her way carefully through the trap-filled trenches of his room (with more than a few uttered icks and ews) she planted herself at his desk. Poking around in it for god knows what, she continued. "So I'll make you a deal. I'll meet you over here at noon tomorrow and we'll head over that way so I can meet him. In exchange, I'll come by Tuesday after school and clean this pig sty of yours."

Again, Sasuke was convinced that anything having to do with Naruto equaled befuddlement. However, getting his place cleaned without the usual fuss was just a bit too enticing. "Why are you so interested in him?"

Giving up her apparently fruitless search of his desk, she looked up at the ceiling and spun herself a few times. "Well, for two reasons. First and foremost, he might be cute. Just imagining some delicious hunk of man meat all alone out there would make any girl a little giddy." Sasuke pointedly ignored Sakura's little shudder of pleasure. He had no desire to know what thoughts were currently running through her mind, especially considering the sorry state Lee was usually in after their 'dates'. Although, he supposed sicking Sakura on Naruto might be amusing…

"And what's the other reason?"

Sakura paused her lazy spins to stare straight at Sasuke. "Reason number two is simple enough. I want to know what's got your prissy little feathers all ruffled. That's generally quite the challenge, but Mr. Hermit managed it in the combined total of what, six hours?" She toed some dirty clothes further away from her chair and smiled sweetly at the Uchiha. "I know you like to think you can take of yourself, Sasuke. But I'm your friend, your _best_ friend and I'm concerned for your well-being. And the safety of that virginal rear of yours," she added, grinning.

"Che." Sasuke tried to hide his embarrassment by launching a pillow at Sakura's face. Finishing off his water, he set the bottle aside. "You know," he started, making sure he had her attention, "he's not your type. He's blonde."

"DAMMIT~!"

**- This is a break because it won't let me do it the way I used to -**

"_**Did you get hurt, Scaredy Cat?**__"_

_Not this again. The cold, wet darkness of these strange dreams was beginning to become a familiar thing. Something _had_ changed though. Since he'd met Uzumaki the previous Saturday, he'd been having these dreams every night. And every night, the only voice to be heard had been his own and it came less often. But as per usual, he couldn't remember having ever said such things._

_It was changing again, though. The telltale sound of water dripping was louder, faster even._

"_**My body moved on its own…**__"_

_There was a sliver of light coming from somewhere above, but it was hardly enough to see by. Movement below caught his attention and he noticed water lapping at his feet. He kneeled down and dipped his hand in, noticing that despite the chill in the air, the water was warm. Almost hot, even._

_Sasuke was beginning to feel unnerved. Despite the changes, the dreams had continued to quickly gain that sinister feeling and he'd wake in a cold sweat, unable to return to sleep. He was always afraid and confused when he awoke, but he'd become used to that._

_This was out of the norm, however. He got the distinct feeling that the darker part of his dreams would not be visiting him tonight. It didn't make him any less afraid of what was coming. Because something _was_ coming. The light and water were proof enough of that._

_He stood back up and squared his shoulders, decision made. He'd follow the direction the water was flowing from, rather than waiting for whatever was going to happen. He was tired of being afraid, tired of being confused. Maybe this would lead him to whatever was forcing these dreams upon him._

_He walked for what felt like an eternity, the only clue that he was going the right direction being the rising water levels. It was waist deep now and had become hot enough as to be uncomfortable. Finally though, Sasuke found something; a wall. He walked along it for a bit, noticing as he did so that the water, despite its heat, had become calm. The level remained steady, which was something to be grateful for. He'd heard somewhere that the mind could make things real and he had no desire to drown in his sleep._

_Eventually, he came to an opening and sloshed his way through. There was a bit more light in here, enough that he could make out that he was in some kind of large room. There was something at the other end, in the shadows. As he moved closer, he was able to make out bars, an entire wall of them. He quickly realized this was some kind of cell, meant to hold something _very_ large._

"_**So this was the source of your power…**__"_

_Being that there was no sign of any life aside from him, he continued forward. The gate was simple in design and he could make out some etchings around the edges. Other than the size, there didn't seem to be anything remarkable about it. Reaching it, he found that it was slightly ajar. And inside, he could make out a shadow._

_He narrowed his eyes, coming to the conclusion from the size and shape, that this was another person. Determined to get answers, he pushed on the gate, intending to open it further. As soon he touched it, however, something pulsed from within him and the water around him started to become agitated. He glanced up to find that the shadow had turned and was moving towards him._

_Sasuke felt frozen to the spot; even the choppiness of the water couldn't seem to move him. The shadow stopped just short of the light casts through the bars. It didn't matter, though. It was close enough now that Sasuke could make out its features as another voice floated through the air around him._

"_Have you awakened yet?"_

_Blood red eyes openly stared at him and Sasuke screamed._

* * *

I have many an excuse. Some of them are real, some of then are bullshit, and none of them will be posted here (if you're really that desperate to know, you can PM me). However, for those reading this, you have **Bluegirlami21** to thank for this chapter. After a recent review from her that I found in my emails, it spurred me to action.

It's been a while, but I'm hoping my style hasn't changed much. Feel free to lash me in the reviews if its not up to par. I totally deserve it this time. Lol At the very least, I know my tendency towards the drama remains intact.

Also, this had not been beta'd. Pissy went and did a silly thing; got a life. Lol Now she's super busy all the time so I didn't want to bug her. So if you spot something that needs to be fixed, feel free to let me know.

**- JadeAnime**

**Rain by Blackmill, Reach for Glory**


	5. Eyes on Fire

**Disclaimer:** I don't think I even have the rights to my own soul anymore. Never make deals with Rumpelstiltskin.

**Summary:** In the midst of a war, he made a promise. He kept it. Now, centuries later, thanks to the twisted mind of one Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke meet once more.

**Warnings:** This is a day early. The fanfic gods will pleased. Also, the author is a terrible, terrible person. This was not a discovery, but simply an affirmation of what I already knew. Thank you, Wednesday's horoscope for reminding me. lol

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Eyes on Fire  
**

* * *

Amidst the mass confusion and sirens blaring through the early morning mist, only one thing was certain. Their little town was heading for some trouble. One of the on-duty officers shook his head sadly and turned to look at the detective. "Sir, it's the same as the last one."

The other man shook his head. "So it's just as I feared then. We've a serial killer on our hands."

The officer nervously scratched his head and readjusted his hat. "It would seem so, Detective Nara. Everything fits with the MO of the previous victims." With pudgy fingers slick with sweat, he flipped open his little notebook to find the notes he'd just taken. "Blonde male, around five and half feet tall, hundred and twenty pounds, and mutilated in the same ritualistic style."

The detective's gaze immediately cut back to the officer. "Male, you say? The first few victims were female, were they not?" The officer nodded and Nara stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "I see, this changes things a bit." At the the other man's questioning look, he smiled grimly. "It isn't just simple ritual killings, as we thought previously. He's looking for someone in particular. Considering the previous victims, he's confused as to exactly who he's looking for, though. It's strange."

The officer peered over Nara's shoulder at the police tape blocking access to the area. And to the numerous reporters beginning to flock to the scene. "What will we do about the media, sir?"

"Get it cleared first, but at this point, I think that it's in the best interest of public safety to get the story out. We've got too many bodies piling up and not enough clues. I'd like to avoid any more victims if I can help it. In the meantime, I'm going to check up on a hunch of mine."

The man nodded and stuffed his notebook into one of the inside pockets of his jacket. "Of course, sir. Though, if I may so, I'd hardly call what you do 'hunches'. Good luck, Detective."

Shikaku nodded, watching as the man, in spite of his rather rotund girth, picked his way nimbly through the confusion. Digging his keys out of his pocket, he was about to start towards his car when this sudden tingle crawled up the back of his neck. He was being watched. Whoever they were, they were smart about it, though. Instead of pulling the car keys out of his pocket, he pulled a pack of cigarettes instead. He used to a bit of a chain smoker (a friend had gotten him hooked), but that ended when his wife got a hold of him. He still kept them around, despite her protests, for moments like this. Checking the wind and turning accordingly to shield the lighter's flame, he covertly scanned the area as he did so.

It was only for a moment, but he spotted someone on one of the nearby rooftops of a closed shop. They quickly disappeared before Nara could get more than an impression of pale skin and dark hair. Of course, there could be any number of explanations for someone being up there. Not that he would've accepted any of the normal ones, but nevertheless. He didn't bother giving chase; by the time he got up there, the person would be long gone but he'd definitely be keeping an out from now on. Besides, he had other places to be at the moment. The Konoha Mental Hospital awaited.

**- This page break eats babies -**

**-rawr-**

She knocked again, paused, and sighed when there was still no answer. "Uchiha Sasuke, you can't stay in there forever." Silence. "Don't make me come in there!"

He continued to ignore her and turned the water on just to spite her. Not the brightest decision he'd ever made, but at the moment he didn't care. He was tired, he was cranky, and if she really wanted to try busting in here, let her come. He had enough chemicals and razors in here, he might even have a fighting chance. Maybe. He opened the medicine cabinet, popped a couple aspirin for the headache, and brushed his teeth. This was definitely not the best way to start the day, especially when said day was going to include that idiot Uzumaki.

"Come on, Sasuke, don't you think you should see someone about these dreams? I get that you don't want to talk to me about them, but you need to talk to someone! This isn't healthy..." He rolled his eyes, and finishing his bathroom routine, he opened the door and glared. Sakura, who'd been poised to knock again, immediately made her best puppy dog eyes. "Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuuun..."

He actually growled slightly. "You know I hate that." Her lips got a little more pout put into them. "FINE! I'll talk to someone. Just stop that, it's annoying."

She fist pumped and laughed. "I know! I can hardly believe I used to act like that. I've no idea what Lee saw in me back then."

Sasuke gave her a scathing look before pulling a fresh shirt out of the laundry basket. "Same thing he sees now, there's just less bullshit in the way."

She huffed, but said nothing further on the subject. Instead, she chose to examine the headband sitting on the desk. When she'd walked in earlier to wake Sasuke, she'd found him standing in front of his bedroom window, asleep and clutching the thing to his chest. He'd mentioned his nightmares to her before, after much prodding, but never sleepwalking. And she'd never seen him do it herself. She had rounded him, unsure if she should wake him, as she'd never dealt with sleepwalking before. When she saw the tears on his face, though, she couldn't stop herself from reaching out. And just as she'd touched him, he'd screamed. She'd never been so scared in her life. Before she'd even had time to recover her wits, he'd bolted into the bathroom and locked the door.

She was glad he'd finally come out, but it hurt, like it had all those other times, that he wouldn't talk to her about it. That she even knew about the dreams was simply an example of her sheer persistence. She was grateful that he was relenting, that he was finally going to talk to someone about it. That alone showed how seriously this was affecting him. Hopefully, a professional could actually help him.

She reached out to run her fingers across the metal plate, but met with air as Sasuke immediately snatched it up. "It's for my project," he explained, placing it back in the metal container. She nodded in understanding and seeing that Sasuke was fully dressed, motioned to the door. "Is it supposed to rain again today? Been getting tired of being sopping wet this past week."

Sakura shook her head, making for the exit. "That wouldn't happen if you'd just watch the morning forecast, you know."

The raven snorted, following the girl out the room and down the stairs. "And wake up even earlier? Sacrilege."

Sakura smothered a laugh and opened the front door, the bright sun pouring in and warming Sasuke's skin. "Well, then I suppose you're in luck, Mr. Uchiha. Things are looking up for a change."

"You say that as if change is a good thing." Sasuke shielded his eyes, checking the sky for himself to be sure while Sakura locked the door behind them. "But at the very least, I'll be grateful that I won't soaked by sudden downpours today."

"Really, Sasuke? You act as if everything is out to get you." The conversation continued along that vein as they traveled. Well, less a conversation and more just Sakura lecturing Sasuke endlessly. He knew her dream was to be a doctor and at times like this, it was obvious how well suited to it she was. He was used to it, though and simply tuned her out. Eventually, she gave up the rants and they completed the rest of the trek in companionable silence.

Aside from a short pause at the forest entrance (the dense foliage seemed to make Sakura a bit nervous and Sasuke took some sadistic glee in mentioning bears), they made good time and were walking up to Naruto's porch in no time at all. Sasuke, wanting to get this done with quickly, simply walked straight in, correctly assuming the door would be unlocked and earning a reproachful look from his friend. He just shrugged nonchalantly and continued inside. "Usuratonkachi."

There was a pained yelp from the direction of the kitchen. Sakura glanced at Sasuke, who simply shrugged and muttered something about 'idiots in their natural habitat'. She rolled her eyes at his indifference and trotted off to see what happened. Sasuke followed at a deceptively leisurely pace, the anxious feeling he got from the place lessened but still very much present. That and he was still just a tad bit... agitated, after yesterday.

In the kitchen, Naruto was slowly and carefully (this time) crawling out from under his sink. Rubbing the back of his head gingerly, he glared at the leaking pipe he'd just banged his head on. Damn thing had clogged up this morning and he'd been attempting to finish fixing it when the sound of Sasuke's voice had caught him off-guard. Still, he certainly hadn't been prepared the bright shock of pink when he'd turned around. _Sakura_. With all his memory gaps slowly but surely filling in, he found that he could actually remember her well enough when he concentrated.

As for Sakura, she certainly hadn't anticipated this. Not exactly, anyways. Sasuke had informed her (twice!) that he was young. And eyes so blue, it felt like falling into the sky. They seemed so... empty, though. The sky wasn't supposed to be empty; the sky was never empty. Feeling Sasuke behind her, she moved just enough to allow him room to pass, not wanting to look away. And it was in that moment, that she saw the light return to the sky.

Naruto smiled softly, leaning back against the cabinets. "Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he took in Naruto's position on the floor and dropped his bag next to the table. "Uzumaki." And so a staring contest of sorts began.

If either of them had bothered to look over at the pinkette, they might have noticed the devil horns sprouting atop her head to match the scheming cat-like expression she now wore. She slunk forward, looping an arm familiarly through Sasuke's and extended her other hand in greeting. "Mr. Uzumaki, then? I'm Haruno Sakura."

Naruto blinked and looked at her, almost as if he'd forgotten her presence there. Of course, he immediately donned a boyish grin and held his hands up, displaying the grime on them. "Indeed, I am though feel free to call me Naruto. You'll have to forgive me for not engaging in the usual pleasantries. As you can see, I wasn't really, uh..." His eyes shifted to Sasuke for only a moment, apologetic. "...expecting guests today. And I wouldn't want to get you all dirty," he finished. He looked suddenly thoughtful for a moment, then smiled lewdly, wiggling his fingers. "Unless, of course, your girlfriend is into that sort of thing, Sasuke."

Sasuke's lip curled in disgust while Sakura giggled prettily. "I'm flattered, really. But I can assure you, Sasuke and I are only friends. We figured out pretty early on that any attempts at that sort of relationship would only end in bloodshed," she explained, watching the nearly nonexistent hope dance behind Naruto's eyes.

"Yeah, mine," Sasuke amended, yanking his arm away from the pinkette and moved to the (hopefully repaired) sink.

She ignored him and, cupping a hand around her mouth, whispered as if conveying some great secret. "You see, I'm just not properly equipped to please Sasuke."

Sasuke spluttered, choking on the water he'd just successfully obtained. "What the hell, Haruno?" Setting the glass down, he glared daggers at the unrepentant girl. "First off, its got nothing to do with your _equipment_ and everything to do with the fact that I don't like _anyone_. Second, that's hardly an appropriate subject, considering we're in the middle of this idiot's kitchen."

Breath tickled his ear, freezing him in place and draining the anger from him. "We could always discuss it somewhere more... private," Naruto offered suggestively, speaking low enough that only Sasuke could hear him.

Sasuke's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. Barely here five minutes and the damn lech was already hitting on him. In front of Sakura, no less! Tho admittedly, that had probably been her aim... And with that came the realization that he still had yet to move away from the blonde. Damn. "Pervert," he hissed. He swore he was close enough to _feel_ the answering chuckle.

~_Hard as I try, I know that I can't quit, something about you is so addictive_~

Both Sasuke and Naruto's heads snapped up in unison as the ringtone continued to play. Sakura, with a wide-eyed 'deer in headlights' kind of look, started mashing buttons trying to silence the traitorous device. The spell broken, Naruto sighed and moved away, grabbing a rag off the counter and wiping most of the grime off of his hands. Sasuke chose to remain where he was, trying to calm his breathing before anyone noticed.

Sakura fought down her embarrassed flush, finally steadying her fingers enough to hit the talk button. A peek at the caller left her annoyed as she brought the phone to her ear. "What's up, Ino-Pig?" Sasuke glanced over, seeing Sakura frown as she listened. Finally, pinching her nose to ward off an oncoming headache, she answered, "Fine, I'm on my way," and snapped the phone shut.

"If you'll excuse me," Naruto interjected, before anything else could be said, "I'll be off to take a shower." With that, he stepped through a door at the back of the kitchen, leading off into other parts of the house.

Pointedly ignoring the blonde and his hasty exit, Sasuke sent Sakura a questioning look. Sakura pocketed the phone and crossed her arms. "She said something about some news broadcast, couldn't really hear her over the background noise. Apparently though, since it aired, the salon's been swamped and they're calling in all the part-timers to help." Sasuke warily eyed the door Naruto disappeared through, making Sakura snort in amusement. "Seriously, Uchiha. He can't be all that bad." She stepped up to Sasuke, her expression serious. "Worst case scenario, you can at least take pride in the fact that your rapist was a gorgeous hunk. Be strong!" She grinned, clapped him on the shoulder for moral support, then took off running before Sasuke could take a swing at her. "See you at school, Fancy!"

**- This page break is on the phone -**

**- texting -**

Sakura paused just before leaving the clearing. Looking back at the house and breathing deeply of the fresh forested air, she had to hope this was the right choice. Sasuke had spoken the truth; he never had been interested in anyone before. Naruto was different. Obviously, Sasuke hadn't said anything and Sakura hadn't the time to do more than nag him a little yesterday, but she'd seen the difference. All their friends had, but only she realized the reason behind it.

With the class project being such a large part of their grade, it was expected that Sasuke of all people would be spending his lunches nose deep in some book, if he was in the cafeteria at all. Instead, he was zoning out, fidgety, and generally unresponsive. Now, she had no doubt that it was due in some part to his restless nights. Those nightmares really were starting to concern her. Still, she had this gut feeling that it was mostly Naruto that had caused this change in Sasuke.

Off to her right, some leaves rustled quietly, despite the lack of wind which immediately caught Sakura's attention. Frowning, she remembered Sasuke joking about bears and wondered if there really were some out here. Of course, as soon as she considered that, a squirrel scurried from under the brush and disappeared up into the trees. Sakura rolled her eyes and turned back to the path, thinking herself an idiot. She really didn't have time for this.

As she disappeared around a turn, the eyes watching her returned to their quiet vigil.

**- This page break is breaking -**

**- bad -**

The head nurse smiled prettily at him. "I'll look into the matter, Detective. If you could just wait here, it shouldn't take long." Shikaku nodded and retreated to one of the uncomfortable looking couches. Boredom set in almost instantly. Most of the complimentary reading materials was years out of date or women's magazines. Really, what did Shikaku care if vertical stripes made him look thinner? Women. Settling farther back into the cushions, he reached into his coat and pulled out his cigarettes. The clicking sound of his favorite lighter snapping open caught the attention of one of the other nurses attention behind the desk, though. She cleared her throat and gave him a stern look, pointing up. Shikaku directed his gaze above the desk and was greeted with a 'no smoking' sign. _Troublesome_.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the head nurse to return. Shikaku noticed she looked rather flustered as she filed a couple of papers she'd brought back with her. Finishing, she stepped back and smoothed some wrinkles out of her scrubs. A nervous habit, obviously. It only helped to confirm what Shikaku had already guessed. She turned and seeing him watching her, nodded. "Detective Nara, if you would," she asked, motioned to the entrance to the nurses' station. She buzzed him through and made sure the door was securely shut behind him before starting. "I'm afraid I'm a little confused, I must admit."

"I was right, then. You have a missing patient."

She gave him a helplessly bleak expression. "I'm afraid it's not just one, Detective." She sighed and pulled a couple of office chairs for them to sit in. "I swear, in all my years here, this has never happened before. I don't understand why this wasn't reported to me sooner, but I'll see to it personally that it doesn't happen again. Unfortunately, what's done is done and all we can do is try to repair the damage done." Shikaku let her continue all on her own. She'd already given him more information than he'd had previously. "Did you find the poor dears?"

Shikaku gave her a sympathetic smile. "Not yet, I'm afraid. I came to ask for personal information on them; hopefully, that will help us track them down a little quicker. They may have visited friends or loved ones by now."

The nurse seemed unsure. "I see. Well, I'd love to help, but I'm afraid we're simply not allowed to give out information on patients without permission or a court order, Detective."

"Of course," he peered down the dimly lit hall leading the patient ward and made to stand. "Perhaps, if I speak with the doctor personally..."

He noted the quick flash of fear in her eyes, which he mentally filed away for later. "Please... sit. I'll call the doctor up myself. The missing two are... special cases... so they are the doctor's responsibility, legally. Just a moment," she explained and rolled over to the desk phone.

Shikaku settled back into his chair. It only took a moment before someone on the other end answered. After some quick, hushed whispers she hung up and strode over to the filing cabinet. "The doctor has agreed to give you access to their files."

She slid the necessary folders out and handed them to Shikaku; one seemed rather thick, while the other couldn't have had more than a few sheets of paper inside. The thick one would obviously take some time; he'd deal with that one when he got home. He pulled open the thin one, finding a basic description, a picture of someone who looked half-starved and not much else. "Most of his information is unknown..."

The nurse nodded, looking sad. "Yes, well, we've taken to calling him John Doe. Was brought in several years ago with complete amnesia. Even rudimentary skills such as language or using eating utensils were absent." Her gaze became distant while Shikaku committed the patient's description to memory. "Of course, he regained such skills quickly. Brilliant boy, that one. So sad that his memory never returned and no one ever came to claim him."

Shikaku, closed the folder and handed it back, done memorizing the information. "Said in there he had an interest in history?"

She turned back to the filing cabinet, replacing the folder. "Oh, very much so. Soaked it up like rain in a desert. Was probably comforting, I suppose, considering his own lack of it."

Shikaku hummed thoughtfully. "And the other patient? Anything I should know about this one that's not already listed?"

The head nurse looked over her shoulder and glared at the folder. "Only that he was quite the troublemaker..."

* * *

Whoot, another chapter completed~! And Pissy had time to beta too, yay for me!

Special thanks as always to **Bluegirlami21**. Trying to live up to your expectations! :)

And to **i love naruto fanfics**, for reviewing as well. Welcome to the bandwagon!

I'm the happy, little puppy that loves being pat on the head! So please **review**. :D

- JadeAnime


	6. Ripple Effect

**Disclaimer:** Nope. Not even a little.

**Summary:** In the midst of a war, he made a promise. He kept it. Now, centuries later, thanks to the twisted mind of one Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke meet once more.

**Warnings:** This chapter is very heavy on the Naruto/Sasuke interactions. So sorry, I know how you all just _hate_ that. ;) AN at the bottom as always!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Ripple Effect**

* * *

He wasn't hyperventilating. He wasn't.

He wasn't going to, either. Of course, that meant not breathing.

Because normal breathing wasn't an option. Breathing meant inhaling and inhaling meant smelling.

Soap, earth, air, all meshed with something distinctly Naruto. Inhaling it too deeply was causing a twinge of heat in his long-ignored manly parts. Sasuke's panicking mind connected heat with explosions and became convinced that the blonde was somehow causing him to spontaneously combust. Only, Naruto had yet to lay even a single finger on Sasuke, so that meant it must be in the air.

Logically, this meant that Sasuke had to hold his breath. But he could only not-breathe for so long, thus the threat of hyperventilating. He only hoped that some of his inside bits would land on Naruto's face as punishment for making him explode.

Of course, none of this showed on his face. He was convinced Naruto knew anyways, if the shit-eating grin was anything to go by. Sasuke blamed Sakura for this, for putting ideas in Naruto's head. And, apparently, his own.

"Put a shirt on, Uzumaki."

"Aw, but without the rain, it's kind of hot out now," he pouted playfully, but Sasuke wasn't budging. Literally. He was still standing in the same spot he been in earlier when Naruto went off to take his shower. Of course, he'd been zoned out when Naruto walked in, but once he realized the blonde had returned, suspiciously shirtless, he'd refused to move.

Which made Naruto grin. _Winning!_ "Come on, Sasuke. You can't tell me you don't li-"

"No. Shirt. Now."

_Or not._ "I'm convinced; you're a robot. But I've got no idea where John Connor is, so do you mind cutting me a little slack?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, determined to find some way to ward off Naruto's advances. "I'm underage."

Naruto just looked at him blankly. "You're no child."

"Legally, it would be considered statutory rape."

That seemed to have angered Naruto. Sasuke had seen the momentary flash in those blue eyes... and for a moment, almost convinced himself they'd been red for a split second. "Fine. I'll put on a shirt." He returned shortly thereafter, wearing a plain orange t-shirt and sporting a rather petulant look. "Seriously, though, you're no fun."

"Indeed, my robot prime directive is to destroy all fun," he answered, completely straight-faced.

Naruto stared at him a moment in shock, before devolving into uncontrollable chuckles. He honestly hadn't meant to upset Naruto by insinuating that he would force himself upon Sasuke. He may not have known him long, but Sasuke was sure Naruto would never do any such thing. Still, this was as close to an apology as he was going to get.

**- Page break o'RAMA -**

**- whoosh -**

They'd sat down and worked for a couple hours after that. Surprisingly enough, Naruto had behaved himself. Sasuke assumed he was probably still pouting.

Still, it was about time they took a break so he stretched and got up to make some tea. Naruto finished jotting the last notes down from the page he was on and closed the book once he'd bookmarked his place. After an experimental sniff (Sasuke was still trying to get used to some of his more animal like habits), Naruto stood and pulled a couple of thermoses out of a cabinet near the sink.

Handing one to Sasuke, he shrugged. "Don't like being cooped up in the house too long. Figured we could take a walk."

Sasuke eyed him suspiciously, but relented after checking through the window to be sure the sky was clear.

Despite Naruto's earlier proclamation, it really wasn't that hot. Especially under the shade of the trees with the occasional breeze brushing their skin, it was actually rather nice. And dry. That was definitely the important part.

Sasuke followed Naruto down a well-worn dirt path situated a bit behind the house. He wondered where the blonde was leading him, but found that he didn't much care. The nervous feeling he got from being in that house was being leeched from him with each step away from the stuffy building.

Within a few minutes of walking, the foliage opened up, giving Sasuke a view of a small, crystal clear lake. Naruto wandered over to where a short dock led out onto the water and sat. Sasuke sat across from him, staring out over the water.

Silence blanketed them comfortably for a few minutes before curiosity got the better of Sasuke. "I've been meaning to ask you..."

"Hm?"

Sasuke opened the thermoses and poured their cups, mostly as a way to distract himself from the fact that he was actually attempting an honest conversation with the hermit. "Why do you live out here, all alone?"

Naruto stared into his tea and wondered himself for a moment. For so long, he'd been gallivanting about the globe, going wherever the wind blew and never staying anywhere for long. Yet, the sudden urge to return home had struck him all those years ago and he'd been here ever since.

Providence had favored him, though, and he was grateful. Regardless of the reasons for his return, he was here. And Sasuke was here. In the end, that was all that mattered to him.

Of course, trying to tell Sasuke 'Well, after centuries of world-hopping, I got tired of the world' wasn't exactly going to go over well. Ah well, he'd could just leave out the 'immortal' bits.

Looking down into his tea, he shrugged. "I've always been alone. I'm so used to it, I suppose, it's just been easier to stay that way," he explained, the implications of which weren't lost on the raven.

"I..." _know the pain of being alone, too,_ was what he'd almost said, like a knee jerk reaction. But that wasn't true at all. Sure, he didn't have his family and he missed them every day. That didn't make him alone, though. _Sakura saw to that_, Sasuke realized, picturing his friends.

Looking at Naruto, he realized just how lucky he really was. A thought formed in his head and he internally sighed, knowing he'd hate himself for ignoring it. "Well," he started, brows furrowing. "You're an idiot." He looked up at Naruto, finding an annoyed expression on the blonde's face and cocked his head to the side. "You're not alone; not anymore."

Sheer awe left Naruto dumbstruck and staring. The moment passed and the blonde set his cup down, crawling closer to Sasuke. "Do you mean..."

Sasuke frowned, heat rising in his cheeks as he realized was Naruto was asking. "No! Damn pervert." He hid his eyes behind the fringe of his bangs and held his hand out. "Friends?" A moment of silence passed and he peeked up, curious.

Naruto looked so content, staring back at him, that it was breathtaking. Sasuke could feel the blood rushing to his face again but couldn't find the will to look away this time. The blonde finally clasped his hand tightly, though. "Friends," he agreed, sniffling as tears welled up against his permission. He bent over, clutching Sasuke's hand to his chest like a lifeline.

And Sasuke opened his mouth. "You'd better not get my hand all snotty."

Naruto snorted, trying not to laugh and cry at the same time. "Way to ruin the moment."

"Prime directive, complete."

This time, they both laughed.

**- Page Break -**

**- Dance -**

Holy cow, Ino-Pig wasn't kidding. Half the town was here. And by that, she meant the blonde half. She wondered idly, _if a bomb went off now, would the town's average IQ rise?_ Spying a couple of the blondes in question as she walked passed, she smirked. _Probably._

She pushed her way inside, her pink hair immediately gaining Ino's attention. "Just a sec!" She waved another girl to come and take over her chair, trotting across to Sakura. "You are a life saver, Forehead. Seriously, I'm glad to see you. Half the people we tried to call in didn't answer. Wasn't sure what I would've done if you hadn't."

Claiming a five minute break, she dragged Sakura into the office in back and flopped into a chair. Sakura moved to the wall of small lockers and packed her stuff into it. "So Ino, what in the world is going on? I could barely hear you over the phone earlier."

Ino blinked, confused. "You don't know? Don't you usually watch the morning news and all that?"

Slipping an apron over her head and tying hair back, she frowned. "Yes, normally. But I had plans with Sasuke today." Noting Ino's sly look, she scoffed. "Not those kind. You of all people should know that while I may be a bit of a tease, I'm wholly devoted to Lee."

Ino made some gagging noises and sat back in the chair. "I keep hoping you'll come to your senses," she teased. Then she sat forward again, her face turning serious. "There's apparently a serial killer loose in town. Police were covering it up for a bit, but 'in an effort to avoid any further casualties', they decided to kindly inform us. Of course, people panicked and here we are. Been like this since I opened."

Ino stood and snagged a drink from the water cooler real quick. Sakura looked incredulous and peered out the office door into the crowded salon. "So the killer's targeting blondes."

"That's about the gist of it, sans the blue eyes. Apparently, he gets his kicks by carving pretty little pictures into them with his knife. So now every blonde-haired, blue-eyed sheep in town is in trying to get in here to get their hair color changed." Tossing the paper cup into the trash, she nodded towards the door. "Time to head back in to Chemical-palooza."

Sakura dug around in her locker, trying to free her phone from the abyss that was her purse. "I'll be right there. Now that I know what's going on, I need to call Sasuke. The idiot never watches the news and I don't remember seeing a television when I was walking through Naruto's house."

Ino paused. "Who's that?"

Sakura hit dial and held the phone up to her ear while it rang. "You remember that guy Konohamaru sent Sasuke to? That's Naruto. And he's very blonde."

**- Page Breaking -**

**- all on your face -**

Tap, tap.

Naruto exhaled quietly, trying to ignore the incessant tapping that had been going on for the past five minutes.

Tap, tap, tap.

And failed. Naruto's eye twitched and, with far more care than was required, he set his pencil down. Reaching across the table, he lay his hand on Sasuke's, forcing the tapping pencil to come to a stop. Sasuke's head snapped up so fast, the blonde wondered if he'd get whiplash.

Pulling his hand back slowly, so as not to startle the kid, he gave him a questioning look. "What's up?"

Sasuke started to shake his head, then stopped and sighed. "Nothing. It's just... a passage I read in here," he explained, motioning to the book, "reminded me of something. That's all." With that, Sasuke obviously considered the matter closed and tried to retreat back into the book.

"Uh-uh." Naruto snatched the pencil away from Sasuke before he could even properly reposition it. "I'm not listening to you play your drum solo all evening, teme. So talk."

Sasuke glared at the blonde, but there didn't seem to be any real heat behind it anymore. "We're never going to get anything done today, at this rate."

The blonde shrugged, crossing him arms. "Guess that just means you'll have to come over more often, then, ne?"

The Uchiha rolled his eyes, but didn't argue the point. When it was obvious Naruto wasn't going to let it go, he growled lowly. "Fine." He stare out the window, his fringe hiding his eyes once more. It was a 'tell' that Naruto remembered well, making his heart ache with the memory.

"Sakura's been hassling me about these nightmares I've been having. Wants me to talk to someone."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Were Sasuke's memories of his past life resurfacing? It would figure, even now, he'd subconsciously focus on the negative aspects. "I'm going to assume by 'someone', she meant a professional."

The Uchiha gave him a sideways look and sneered. "I'm well aware of what she meant, dobe."

"And?"

Sasuke gave him a guilty look. "I never told her, but I actually did try once, a few years back." His black eyes glazed over, remembering the attempt. He'd managed to get as far as the parking lot of the Konoha Mental Hospital.

After a particularly nasty argument between him and Sakura, he'd decided to just get it over with. So he'd gone after school, backpack still slung over one shoulder. In the fading sunlight, the old building had taken on an eerie, ominous feel.

Sasuke shook his head, gripping the edge of the table hard to hide his discomfort. "I went to the only psychiatrist in town. But, standing there looking at the building, something just felt off. Gave me the chills, so I turned around and went straight home."

Sasuke looked back and saw Naruto watching him with an almost calculating gaze. "Have your instincts ever been wrong before?"

Sasuke thought back as far as he could, his brow furrowing. "Rarely."

The blonde smiled. "Then it was probably for the best. Who knows, they might have given you an 'accidental'," he emphasized with air quotes, "lobotomy. Or something."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow, "I don't think anyone still does those."

Naruto shrugged, "Got me. Look, the point is, you're here, now. And if you want to talk, I'll listen."

The raven rocked back in his chair, considering. Eventually, he stood and paced to an open area of the floor. "I've had them for years, really."

Ah, so this wasn't Naruto's doing, then. "When did they start?"

Sasuke looked up at the ceiling. "Shortly after my family passed. But they've always been... ephemeral. Just darkness and the sound of water. Voices all around me. As I got older, the voices got clearer, but they still didn't make any sense."

Of course, Naruto had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but explaining that to Sasuke would raise a lot of questions that he wasn't ready to answer. Or couldn't, considering the few spotty holes still remaining in his memories. "Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something and it's just using a mash up of voices you've heard previously, walking through town or on television."

Sasuke looked to be considering it, "Why all this time, though?"

Naruto grinned, "Maybe you're a terrible listener."

The Uchiha crossed his arms, glaring flatly at the blonde, "Ha ha. But that still wouldn't explain last night."

The hermit leaned back in his chair, stretching. "So you had a nightmare last night that was different?"

The raven nodded. "There was actually some light... But that wasn't the important part. There was this room..."

And he described it as best he could. Of course, Naruto knew exactly what the room looked like. Once Sasuke began, Naruto filled in the rest of the details mentally. That Sasuke was remembering a room that only existed within his soul... was slightly unnerving. Especially since it wasn't like Sasuke had spent a whole hell of a lot of time in there.

Sasuke fumbled over his words when he got to the gate and paused, not sure if he wanted to share the last bit. Naruto was too immersed in his musings to notice and simply assumed he was finished.

Naruto stood and paced slowly towards the raven. "I can't really say much for sure, brat. Except that maybe it's a warning of some kind."

Sasuke's shoulders sagged, not getting the answers he wanted. "Warning me of what?"

Naruto reached out and ruffled his hair, attempting to comfort. "No clue, teme. But you're a strong kid, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Sasuke grabbed his hand and gently pulled it away, "Thanks."

Naruto laughed, trying to ignore the warmth of Sasuke's hand on his, "No problem, teme. After all, you're my closest friend."

Sasuke huffed, "I'm your only friend."

And the blonde groaned. "And you ruined it. Robo Sasuke strikes again!"

Amid the laughter, Sasuke forgot that he was still holding Naruto's hand. Naruto saw no reason to remind him. And neither noticed the quiet vibrations of Sasuke's phone, sitting on the table...

**~ Page Break ~**

**~ breaking windows ~**

Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow with a damp towel and fell back into one of the salon chairs. The evening sun creeped through the storefront windows, making Ino seem like a shadow as she locked up. They'd been working nonstop since Sakura showed up, dying head after head, making everyone any color they had that wasn't blonde.

"So, Ino..."

The blonde pulled the security shutters down and locked them into place. "What?"

Sakura watched her best friend as she flitted about, doing the last minute cleaning. "You're not dying your hair." Most the dye in stock had been used, but there should still be plenty left to do Ino's. She didn't act like that was her intention, though.

"No, I'm not," she answered, grabbing a broom to sweep up a small mess of hair she'd found. "I realize how serious this is, but I won't be bullied into changing myself, even superficially." She paused and leaned on the broom. "Besides, you know I'm fully capable of protecting myself," Ino reminded her, smirking.

Sakura rolled her eyes and stood up, slipping her apron off. "Ugh, you and Sasuke both. Just because you two trained together and became like... taijutsu experts or whatever... you think you're invulnerable."

Ino laughed, scooping the mess up into the dustpan and dumping it in the trash. "Maybe Pretty Boy thinks that, but I know better. That's _why_ I studied self-defense."

Sakura knew. Ino had been attacked when she was younger, but instead of breaking her, it had the opposite effect. She had become one of the strongest people Sakura knew, both mentally and physically.

Sakura went to the office and grabbed her things, dumping her apron in the laundry on the way back out. Ino was counting down the register, nearly ready to leave herself. Sakura fiddled with her purse strap quietly while she waited. Ino finished and disappeared into the back to dump everything into the safe.

It only took a moment and she was back, her own purse hung over her shoulder and a bag of trash in the other hand. "I'll be so glad when Mom gets back from her business trip. I hate running this place."

Sakura followed her out the back door and Ino locked up behind them. Noting Sakura's silence, she spun on her heel, ponytail snapping like a whip, and flicked Sakura's nose. "Stop brooding, that's Pretty Boy's MO." The blonde went to pocket the store keys, then stopped, dropped them into her purse instead and sighed. "But if it makes you feel better, I promise I'll be careful and head straight home."

This seemed to appease Sakura and she smiled. "Alright, then... I'll call you later, Ino." She gave her friend one last hug before heading off, more than likely already yanking her phone out to harass Sasuke some more.

Ino watched her exit the alley and disappear around the side of the store on the corner. Sighing again, she pulled her purse off her shoulder and chucked both it and the trash away from her. "You can come out now, whoever you are."

One of the shadows detached itself from the nearby dumpster and moved towards her. Ino turned to face them, noting the large black hoodie that hid their face from view. He pulled a slender knife from within a sleeve and advanced slowly. "It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be."

"And yet, you let her leave. I'm grateful." Ino spread her feet, taking up a fighting stance. "Unfortunately for you, I'm no sheep." With that, she charged.

* * *

I finished this pretty quickly, despite taking a day off, so went ahead and uploaded it. I blame it on the good music for which the chapters are named.

**BlugirlAmi21:** I did! Or rather, it was always there, the story just hadn't progressed that far yet. XD And you'll have to remain confused for a bit more. Lol

**CherryWhirl:** Yah, life kind of got in the way. Blu up there PM'ed me tho, which I got in an email and here I am. Glad you could re-join us! And I'm glad you liked my characterizations. :) Life experience helps. Lol Just keep reviewing, good or bad, and I'll keep trying to pump these out. :D

**Pissy:** We both know you'd make a terrible blonde. You'd just look sickly. Lol

I live (and die) on **reviews**, so please leave them!

- JadeAnime

**Ripple Effect by Phutureprimitive**


	7. Shadows

**Disclaimer:** Do you even lift, bro?

**Summary:** In the midst of a war, he made a promise. He kept it. Now, centuries later, thanks to the twisted mind of one Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke meet once more.

**Warnings:** Un-beta'ed. Author's mind took a raincheck on adhering to reality. It was too busy dreaming strange things and thinking about cute kittens.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Shadows**

* * *

_They were back._

_The room, the gate... The eyes._

_If this had been a video game, he would have reached a checkpoint, because he was automatically back here. No harassing voices or walking in the dark for this pro._

_Only, he didn't know where to go from here. Curious, he peered behind him, only to find the entrance gone. That didn't unnerve him so much as the man with the red eyes. Who remained in the same spot Sasuke had last seen him. He wondered if Naruto was right, if this was an attempt to warn him._

_He returned to his previous position by the gate, before he'd woken last. He was a little wary of actually attempting to open the gate, instead choosing to simply peer through the bars. It was then he realized, that the shadow had simultaneously moved closer as well. Despite the light being shed on it, nothing of its features could be made out, as if it was simply cloaked in darkness._

_They stood there for a moment in silence. Finally, Sasuke frowned. "What is it you want?"_

_The shadow lurched forward suddenly, surprising Sasuke..._

...Awake.

He yawned and blinked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Moonlight poured through the curtains, casting a dim light across the living room's sparse furnishings. He stretched, a forgotten pencil rolling off the notebook in his lap to land dully on the rug below. Sasuke managed to catch the notebook before it followed the pencil's terrible example.

After the latest deviation from their note-taking, they'd moved to the living room for a change of scenery. Though, to be honest, it wasn't much different from being in the kitchen really. A couple of cushioned chairs, the coffee table, and the couch all situated on a plain area rug was the extent of the room's decor. Much like the kitchen and the entry hall, there were no pictures, no paintings... It was all very spartan. There was nothing to divulge any information on Naruto's life or interests.

Speaking of, Sasuke peered over at the couch where he'd last seen the blonde. And found him out cold on his back, limbs splayed every which way and lightly snoring. Apparently, they'd both fallen asleep once they were off those hard kitchen chairs. If not for the nightmare, he'd think he was still dreaming, everything so quiet and surreal at the moment.

Surreal or not, he still had school in the morning. Sasuke cleaned up his things, stuffing them in his bag, intent on leaving as soon as he checked the time. He zipped his backpack up, but before he got around to actually picking it up, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Naruto's hideous orange shirt had ridden up a bit, showing off a toned expanse of skin. Before he realized what he was doing, he'd already rounded the coffee table and was standing next to Naruto. He'd admit to himself (only under the cover of darkness, when no one else was around) that Naruto was attractive for a guy. When his mouth was shut.

Sasuke was used to people trying to get into his pants, but Naruto was the only one that got under his skin. And that tanned skin, with the moonlight playing across it, was incredibly enthralling... Feeling like a kid trying to sneak from the cookie jar, he looked to make sure Naruto was still sleeping. And around himself, for good measure, despite knowing no one else was here.

Satisfied he wouldn't be caught in the act, he slowly reached a hand forward, wondering what Naruto's skin would feel like under his fingertips. It was softer than he'd figured it would be, though not nearly as soft as Sakura's, which he'd expected.

A soft sigh escaped Naruto at his touch, causing Sasuke to pause but when he found no other action forthcoming, he continued his appraisal.

Starting where the shirt had ridden up just below the ribs, he slowly dragged his fingers downward, noting that the closer to Naruto's navel he got, the warmer the man's skin became. He also noticed black markings appearing where he touched. How odd.

Figuring he'd take his chances, he leaned down enough to place his entire palm flat on Naruto's stomach and slowly swiped it across. A strange tattoo gradually appeared, a spiral surrounded by ancient kanji. The raven was so focused on the markings, he didn't notice a certain blonde had woken up until his wrist was snatched away.

**~Page Break~**

**~The Return~**

He'd been having some pretty weird, but nice dreams about fluffy clouds and dancing puppies. And Naruto had to say, those puppies could really dance.

Then, in the middle of a game of limbo (the clouds were totally winning), he felt this odd tickling sensation just at the edge of his senses. The smell that accompanied it though had been familiar and nonthreatening, so he returned his attention to making a comeback only to find that they were apparently baking cakes now. Sweet.

Just as he'd convinced the guys to go skydiving into some gelatin, the pressure came again, stronger, and accompanied by a burning feeling he knew all too well.

Before he was even awake enough to know what he was doing, he'd grabbed his assailant's wrist and jerked them off their feet. Rolling on top of them to trap them, he pulled is other hand back, fully ready to sink it into the chest of whoever was under him should they give him reason.

Which they didn't. Mostly because hitting the floor had knocked the air out of Sasuke. Coughing a little, the raven did his best to remain still as he stared up at Naruto in shock. Something told him moving right now was a really bad idea.

Naruto blinked, trying to clear his vision, every hair on end. The lack of fight underneath him calmed him some. He settled back on the Uchiha's legs as his vision cleared, everything showing up in stark contrast despite the low light. "...Sasuke?"

Poor kid had the deer-in-headlights look, every muscle tensed for that fight-or-flight situation. Strangely, Naruto didn't smell any fear on him. Rather, though perhaps he was imagining it, there was a lingering scent of... "What were you doing?"

Sasuke blinked. "We fell asleep."

"Duh, teme."

Sasuke huffed. Well, tried to huff, as he was still breathing a little hard. "I was about to head home." Looking anywhere but at Naruto, he licked his lips nervously. He could still hardly believe what came over him. "I was uh... just going to wake you up."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. He didn't like being lied to. Still, the Uchiha's unwillingness to admit to his actions wasn't really what was upsetting Naruto. It was about his seal. It wouldn't have surfaced without a some kind of connection to chakra, whether it was his or an outside source.

Without his memories, Sasuke shouldn't have access to his chakra. Not to mention, the burning sensation was something he usually attributed to Kyuubi. But Kyuubi was...

Something started vibrating against the coffee table. Naruto frowned, realizing it was Sasuke's phone. The blonde released the boy's wrist and scooted off of him.

Sasuke took a deep, steadying breath and sat up, snatching the device from its place on the table. He'd never been so grateful for the irritating piece of tech. The screen was bright, announcing it was a little after 10 pm. and he had a missed call from Sakura.

Unlocking it, his eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Apparently, I have thirty seven missed calls. All from Sakura." Naruto arched an eyebrow at that, but remained otherwise silent as Sasuke called her back.

There was an almost immediate response. "_Sasuke! Oh my god, you're okay! You're okay..._" Sasuke frowned, realizing immediately that something was wrong. Sakura's voice sounded hoarse from crying. "_Where have you been, you idiot?! I've been trying to call you for hours._"

Sasuke glanced up at Naruto for a moment. "I'm still at Uzumaki's. Fell asleep. What's going on?"

"_You're still at Naruto's? Is he there? Is he okay?_" She descended into slight hysterics at that point.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke confused, obviously able to hear the conversation despite the distance between them. "Sakura. What's going on?" There was no recognition on the other end and Sasuke was becoming frustrated. "Haruno."

The other end went silent. It was a trigger of sorts; he'd only ever called her that when they were younger, when she was busy fangirling and he refused to believe she had a brain. "_Asshole._"

"Hn."

She sighed. "_Have you even listened to any of the messages I left? Never mind, this is you we're talking about. Of course not._"

After taking a moment to calm herself, she explained how shortly after she'd left Ino, she received a call from the girl. She'd barely understood the request for help and by the time she'd gotten back to the alley, the girl had passed out.

"_The paramedics got there pretty quickly, thankfully. There was just... I couldn't stop the bleeding... There was so much blood..._"

Sasuke could hear the heavy breathing on the other end, knowing the pinkette was doing her best not to cry. "Sakura... Are you still at the hospital?"

"_Yeah, they finished patching Ino up not too long ago. I called her mom... she's taking the next flight back._"

The Uchiha pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the tension headache already starting behind his eyes. "Alright, I'll be right there."

He hung up and pocketed the phone, turning to see Naruto handing him his bag. "Go, Sasuke. But be careful. Please."

A quick nod of compliance and he was out the door, running hard. Naruto felt a twinge of uneasiness but pushed it aside, knowing it wouldn't do him any good. Sasuke wouldn't take kindly to Naruto trying to cage him. He'd just have to trust that Sasuke would stay safe.

**~ Page be Breaking ~**

**~ all over ~**

Sasuke made it to the hospital without incident. Sakura, with her tear-streaked face, was waiting for him at the front, enveloping him a tight hug that he would later deny happened.

After forcibly extricating himself, he followed her through the maze of hallways to the ward where Ino was being kept. Sitting in a chair outside the door was Shikamaru, looking deceptively lazy. He creaked one eye open as they walked up and nodded in greeting. "Sakura, Uchiha."

Sasuke returned the nod. "Nara."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Alright, Sloth and Pride, let's not overwhelm me with your 'cool' bromance vibes. We've got more serious issues." She looked at Shikamaru hopefully. "Has she woken up, yet?"

Shika leaned his head back against the wall, eyes closed again. "She has, though the police are in there with her at the moment. They should be done shortly."

Just as he said that, Shikamaru's father stepped out, looked them over and smiled. "You guys can go in now. She's getting tired though, so I'd get in there quick." He squeezed Shika's shoulder comfortingly before moving on.

Sakura turned to Sasuke. "I'm going to assume you still haven't listened to your messages." He arched an eyebrow; she sighed. "Seriously, for being such a 'genius', you're a complete retard. You just walked right through the streets while there's a serial killer on the loose, idiot. Fortunately for you, he's into carving up blondes."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Then Ino-"

A haunted look passed through Sakura's eyes. "-is lucky to be alive. She's the only victim that's made it." The pinkette gave the Uchiha a hard look. "You'd know that if you'd answered your phone."

Sasuke had the good sense to look ashamed. Then blinked as the realization hit home. "Naruto."

"Exactly," she answered, flicking him in the forehead. "Now, come on Dumb and Dumber, let's go see how she's doing."

Shika yawned and sat back up. "Pass. I'll leave her to you, I'm going to find out what I can from my dad."

Sakura seemed to want to say something but decided against it. "Alright. Good luck, then. See ya, Shika."

He smirked. "You too, Sakura." And nodded to the raven again. "Uchiha."

"Nara."

Sakura slapped her forehead, before whirling around and disappearing into Ino's hospital room. Sasuke paused at the door. He looked back at Shikamaru, confused. "Bromance?"

The lazy genius forced himself out of his seat, shaking his head. "Troublesome."

Understanding that came with years of being friends crossed Sasuke's face. "Ah, sarcasm."

Sasuke turned away and padded quietly into the room, finding Sakura already sitting at Ino's side and holding one of the girl's hands.

Upon seeing him, a lazy smile slowly spread on the girl's face. "Ah, you've even brought Duck-butt himself to the party. Make yourself comfortable, party's just getting started," she joked, finishing with a careful yawn.

Sasuke stopped next to the chair Sakura had pulled up. "Ino, I'll understand if you don't feel comfortable talking about it, but..." The pinkette took a moment to glance at Sasuke. "We'd like to know what happened."

"It's fine, Forehead," she mumbled, "just wipe the weepy look off your face. You know I'll start crying if you do and with a couple cracked ribs, that would probably be fairly painful."

Sakura sniffed and nodded, doing the best she could to control her tears.

Ino smiled and closed her eyes, settling back into the pillow. A couple of minutes passed in silence and Sasuke began to think that she'd been pulled under by the drugs. He nearly jumped when she finally began speaking.

"They... He. He was there when you left, Sakura." She glanced at the pinkette long enough to see the surprise, then turned her attention to the ceiling. "I couldn't see his face. Between the darkness and the hood he wore, I never saw it."

Ino smirked then, confident despite her close call. "To be honest, I was almost keeping up with him. Almost." She yawned again. "He was strong, though... Managed to crack some ribs, dislocated my left arm." At this point, her brow furrowed in confusion. "I saw an opening, but when I attacked... He was just... gone."

Sasuke and Sakura both looked at each other, as puzzled as Ino was. To be fast enough to outmaneuver Ino so completely and suddenly... didn't seem humanly possible. The pinkette squeezed the girl's hand, encouraging her to continue.

The pressure was returned ten fold, Ino doing her best to keep her breathing calm. "Next thing I know, I'm staring up at the sky, this horrible pain searing through my stomach. I can't..." She looked straight at Sakura, anger in every feature of her face. "I don't ever want to feel that again. How someone could inflict that kind of pain on another person... I don't understand it."

Sasuke cocked his head to the side, gaining the blonde's attention. "He had you pinned, then. How did you get away?"

She shook her head, eyes drifting shut. "I didn't. Someone saved me."

**~Revenge of the~**

**~Page Break~**

Sasuke stepped out into an empty hallway, Sakura on his heels. Ino had fallen asleep shortly after explaining her rescuer had given chase and not returned. So they were no better informed now than they were before.

Sasuke paused and looked at Sakura, who had stopped just outside the door. "She'll be okay."

Sakura looked at the raven like he'd sprouted horns. When nothing else seemed to be forthcoming from him, she'd snickered. "Your attempts at comfort suck." Running a hang through her short hair nervously, she smiled. "It's Ino, though. I know she'll be fine."

"Anyways," she continued, "I think... you should get back to Naruto's. Might not hurt to stick around and keep an eye on him. With panic getting to be this widespread, I'm sure school's going to be canceled."

"I'll go warn him, but I'm sure he'll be fine by himself," Sasuke huffed.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you listen to me and listen to me good," the pinkette growled. "Uzumaki Naruto is a good guy. Seems to me like he might actually be your friend; the first you've made on your own."

She grabbed his face with both hands, reminding him a lot of his mother when she'd been angry with him as a child. "You're just as good a fighter as Ino and she almost went toe to toe with this killer." Personally, he thought he was better than Ino, but now wasn't really the time to talk back to Sakura. She was much too angry and much too close for his continuing good health should he provoke her.

"Sakura, he's in the middle of a small forest. Finding him would be near impossible."

The pressure from her hands increased, making his cheekbones ache a bit. "There's still a chance, though, which is my point. He's in danger and you could be his best chance at survival."

Sasuke gently pulled her hands away from his face, his abused cheeks thanking him for it. "Knowing how long Naruto's lived out there alone, even if the killer did find him, the idiot would probably just go all Hunger Games on them."

He could see a vein above her eyebrow starting to twitch and swallowed nervously. "But, if it will make you feel better, I'll go babysit him."

She crossed her arms, smiling in a creepy way that made him think a hasty retreat might be in order. "Good! Then I'll bring some clothes by for you tomorrow; tonight I'm going to stay with Ino. Shika, Chouji, and I already agreed we'd stay with her in shifts until she gets out."

Sakura shrugged and smirked. "Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow. Off with you! Try not to let the pervert molest you too much."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and waited until Sakura had slipped back into the room. Shoulders sagging a bit, he started a slow pace back to the entrance. Honestly, he was a lot more worried than he'd let on. He'd have gone back to Naruto's without any prodding from Sakura. She just brought up what he'd already been thinking, even if he hadn't been willing to admit it.

**~ Breaking ~**

**~This Page~**

Naruto sat in one of the cheap lawn chairs on the porch, drinking some tea. He was too anxious after earlier to sleep; so he waited. Why, he wasn't really sure. After all, considering how late it was, it only made sense that Sasuke would go home. Logic did nothing to soothe his nerves, though.

So he sat.

Drank his tea.

And stared off into the dark woods.

He wondered what had sparked Sasuke's earlier actions. For the most part, Sasuke had made a point of avoiding any unnecessary physical contact. His fault, of course, but he was what he was.

His perversion might not be as blatant as Jiraiya's, but it was there. When Sasuke was around, he just couldn't help himself. It was too much fun irritating the teen.

It was, he had noticed, one of the differences between the the two Sasukes. Even when they'd been younger, it had always been hard to bait Sasuke. Once they were teenagers... Well, such attempts were the last thing on his mind. He wasn't sure even he had balls enough to tease _that_ Sasuke, regardless of whether the situation had allowed for it. He'd have probably been minus a pair afterward.

The thought was enough to make him smile.

Then he remembered that Sasuke had seen it; the Eight Trigrams Seal. Somehow, the seal had been called to the surface, if only briefly. Naruto was sure that, despite the nightmares, Sasuke hadn't truly remembered himself. At least, not enough to be able to make use of chakra. And Naruto certainly hadn't called it forth. So that left the question: Who did?

There was also the familiar chakra signature of the Kyuubi, weak as it may have been. He was sure of the sensation, despite how many years it had been since he last felt it. Yet, it wasn't possible. Because Kyuubi was dead.

It was all so confusing. Naruto didn't like it, not one bit.

At some point, he found that his cup was empty, but simply set it aside, not caring to move.

Not yet, anyways. Not when, for the last several minutes, someone had been watching him. It was almost imperceptible; even the usual forest noises continued uninterrupted.

A few more minutes passed and Naruto decided he'd had enough. Patience wasn't really his thing.

Hopping out of his chair, he laced his fingers behind his head casually and strolled into the middle of the front yard. "I don't know who you are, but I get it, I'm sexy. So you're more than welcome to come back and stare at me some more tomorrow. Tonight's just not good for me, you know?"

Silence was the only answer.

Naruto groaned, his hands dropping to his sides and looking around. Using a little chakra to enhance his vision, allowing him a better view within the darkness, he was disappointed to find there was still nothing to see.

"If you just _have_ to stay, I really must insist that you come out. Hiding really won't do you much-" A slight metallic sound from his right caught his attention. That moment of hesitation, of realizing exactly what the sound was, was enough. The explosion was close enough, Naruto barely had time to shield his face from the heat and rocky debris.

The resulting dust cloud obscured his vision, forcing Naruto to rely on sound instead. Aside from the dirt settling back on the ground and the now silent forest, there was nothing to give away his opponent's position.

"So, mind telling me how you came by those," Naruto asked, trying pick out any unusual noises. "Exploding tags and kunai aren't exactly the normal stock at the corner store, last I checked."

Another clinking sound, to his left and above. Naruto immediately dodged right, evading the following explosion easily. The timing of the newest tag wasn't coincidental, though. Another dust cloud kicked up just as the other is settling? And the first tag hadn't technically been aimed _at_ him.

Were they testing him? "So exactly what are you after? I'd figured it was pretty obvious, I don't have anything worth stealing. And while I must admit, I am very delectable, this is a lot more work than the average rapist is willing to put in."

Another attack, this time aimed directly at him. He rolled away easily, taking a moment to mourn the loss of his lawn. He really wasn't looking forward to fixing all these holes. "Seriously, though, you're ruining years of yard work here. Can't we talk over a cup of coffee like normal people do?"

The was a pause in the attacks and the sound of someone running through the brush caught Naruto's attention. _Finally!_ He launched himself, tackling the runner hard. The dust settled enough for Naruto to be able to see his captive. And was, admittedly, a little shocked. "...Sasuke?"

The raven coughed hard, trying to get his breath back, something the settling dust wasn't exactly helping. "What... the... fuck... Uzumaki?!"

Naruto blinked a moment. "Uhhh... sorry?" He grinned sheepishly. "We really don't have time to chat right now, though." He hooked his arms under Sasuke bridal-style, who immediately protested rather vocally and ran towards the house. His body shielded Sasuke from the tag that landed on the ground where they'd just been.

Sasuke stilled in Naruto's arms. "What the hell is going on here," he demanded, peering over Naruto's shoulder, a little wide-eyed.

"You know about as much as I do, Princess," Naruto replied truthfully. "I'm not too happy with having my lawn torn apart, but I've got to admit, I'm not minding the unexpected bonus," he added, settling Sasuke on his feet in front of the porch, a hand slyly sliding down Sasuke's backside.

Sasuke's eye twitched. "Really, Naruto? We're being attacked by god knows who or even how and you're trying to cop a feel."

"You can't blame a guy for trying," Naruto pouted.

An angry Sasuke always was a sexy Sasuke. Which was highly distracting. And with no telltale clink of metal this time, Naruto almost didn't have time to defend the two of them against the blast from the tag that landed between them and the house.

The air around them seemed to shudder in that split second before the explosion washed over them.

A slight breeze picked up, gently forcing the airborne remains of Naruto's yard aside, revealing a spinning ball of red energy, with Naruto and Sasuke at its center. Naruto closed his outstretched hand, shutting off the flow of chakra, and the jutsu, a variation of the Rasengan, winked out of existence.

The moment of inattention had nearly cost him Sasuke, he realized. How stupid of him, he thought, holding the unconscious teen to his chest with his other arm. He'd managed to shield them from the blast, but some of the debris had pelted two of them before hand. A particularly large piece had managed to strike Sasuke, knocking him out. Looking over the injury, it didn't seem to be anything too bad, but it still left Naruto angry with himself.

"So. You do still possess it; the power of the Kyuubi."

Naruto's head snapped up, finding the owner of that all too familiar voice standing atop his roof. "You...," was all Naruto could force past his lips, shocked.

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

"...Itachi..."

* * *

I wasn't sure if the 'hello, Naruto-kun' was obvious enough, so added in the last line. Was going to ask my beta/editor/best friend, but she went MIA on me. Mysteriously. Seems fishy to me. Fishy, fishy. Stinky, stinky. Stinky fishy.

Also, my kittens are adorable. Their needle-like claws are not. lol

Thanks to **Uchiha hinata21** for reviewing! Even short, tiny ones are sustenance, so keep them coming! :D

Thank you also to **Guest** (who could not be logged in at this time). Ino was destined to be mauled, so said me. Heehee.

And **Pissy**. *twitch twitch* Glad you liked Ino. Much like Sasuke, this is just my perspective on them minus the whole ninjar biz.

Anyways! Thanks to everyone who reads, **reviews**, favorites, and all that jazz! Reviews are my Wheaties, so keep 'em coming! :D

- JadeAnime, the mendicating Kenken

**Shadows by Lindsey Stirling**


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